Don't You Dare
by ConfusedColumbia26220
Summary: What happens when Regina thinks she's lost Emma forever. First attempt at a Once fic. Trigger warning. Rating change due to chapter 4.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This is the result of me watching too many Swan Queen videos in a row on Youtube and reading heartsways' Fragments trilogy (I'm on the second one on chapter 20 in case you're wondering). I've watched all two seasons, and I hope I do these beloved characters justice. This idea has been poking around my head for a while, and my heart doesn't want me to write it, so naturally I'm going to.**

The curse had broken long ago, but the memories of what had followed were still fresh in Regina's mind.

_"Open up! Open up, or we're coming in!" That sounded like Dr. Whale. What on Earth could he possibly want with her? Regina went to the door and opened it, faced with a rather large crowd on her doorstep. _Oh_, she thought. She knew exactly what they were doing here now. Still, she refused to give anything away._

"Can I help you?" she asked with a bit of a smirk._  
_  
"_That smirk isn't going to last forever, Regina. you took everything from us, and now-"_

_"What?" Regina cut him off. "Now you're going to kill me?" She very much doubted that._

_"Eventually," Dr. Whale, or more appropriately, Victor Frankenstein answered. "But first, you need to suffer."_

_"Listening to you has been enough suffering for all of us," Regina quipped. She shoved him off of her porch. She did not bode well to be provoked. "That's right. You wanted to see your Queen? Well, my dears. Here… She… Is." She rose her arms on either side of her, waiting for the familiar rush of power, intending to strike out against the crowd. However, no such power comes and though the crowd cowered back in fear, but they were quick to catch on._

_"She's powerless!" the crowd seemed to have one collective voice._

_Regina looked down at herself in dismay. "What?"_

_"Get her!"_

_Dr. Whale grabbed her rather roughly and slammed her against the doorway._

Shit_, Regina thought._

_"Now… Where were we?" his tone was just as menacing as he'd intended it to be._

_Then something happened that took Regina completely by surprise. Emma Swan came rushing through the crowd, "Let her go. Let her go! Let her go!" She made her way to the porch and separated Dr. Whale from Regina._

_"Why should I listen to you?" Dr. Whale demanded._

_"Because I am still Sheriff," was Emma's answer._

_David Nolan, otherwise known as Prince Charming, was on the porch seemingly out of nowhere. The porch was getting rather crowded. "And because she saved you. All of you!" He was certainly one of the people Regina would least expect to come to her defense._

_Mary Margaret Blanchard, Snow White, also seemed to be defending Regina. "And because no matter what Regina did, it does not justify this."_

How cute_, Regina thought sarcastically. _It's a family affair. _Still, she couldn't help but wonder why they were defending her. They certainly had no reason to._

_Emma was glaring something terrible at Dr. Whale, and Regina would never admit it, but if it was fixed at her she would find herself scared. "We are not murderers here."_

_"Well, we're not from this world," Dr. Whale protested._

_"Yeah, well, you're in it now."_

_David pushed Dr. Whale. "Okay, Whale. We're done."_

_Dr. Whale pushed him right back. "Back off. You're not my prince," he snapped at him._

_"Who are you, Whale?"_

_Regina could've answered, but she wouldn't._

_"That's my business." Apparently, neither would he._

_"Well my business, is making sure this town doesn't go to hell. So, whether or not I'm your prince, isn't the issue. We have a lot to figure out, and this isn't the way to do it."_

_Mary Margaret spoke up again, "And Regina's death won't provide any answers. She needs to be locked up. For her safety and, more importantly, for ours."_

That's twice now Snow's saved me from the chopping block_, Regina thought. _Why?

After that, Regina had wound up in the jail cell in the Sheriff's office, giving her time to wonder why Emma, who had most reason to hate her other than Snow, wasn't interested in fighting her.

Later, she found the reason was just as surprising as the action itself. So surprising in fact, she'd laughed in her face, thinking it was some sort of game.

_"If you _do_," she told her. "You must be more touched in the head than I thought. I'm your mother's step-mother." She tilted her head to the side. "Which makes me your step-grandmother." _And_, she thought to herself. _That makes me Henry's step-great-grandmother. What the fuck?

_"Shut up, Regina!" Emma slammed her up against the wall, hand at her throat, fingers crushing tight enough anyone else would beg for mercy. Regina only gave her a blank, unamused look._

_"I think you're confusing feelings, here."_

_"No, I'm not!" Emma hissed._

_Regina only had time to lift an eyebrow before lips crashed against her own in a furious kiss._

And so was the beginning of a physical affair that had turned to love.

_"This doesn't mean nothing."_

_Emma blinked. "What?"_

_"This!" Regina waved her arm in a wild gesture, indicating the space between them. "What we're doing! Whatever this is was supposed to be nothing! …But it's _not _nothing! It's not supposed to mean anything, damn it! It's not supposed to mean _anything_, but it does!" She hadn't realized she was yelling, nor had she realized there were tears rolling down her cheeks. "It does," she repeated quietly._

_Emma's hands went to her shoulders and pulled her close, into a kiss unlike any other they'd shared._

And then, in a single night, everything had been ruined.

_Regina answered her cell phone. "Yeah?"_

_"I'm just about to head out."_

_"Okay." Regina smiled._

_"I need to ask you something, though."_

_"Okay… Go ahead."_

_"Regina, when are we going to tell Henry? I mean, it's been months now, and I think that –"_

_"Think what, Emma?"_

_It sounded like the phone had been dropped._

_"…Emma?"_

_Then there was only the sound of the most massive crash Regina had ever heard. "Emma!" The line went dead._

_Regina had been sitting down in an armchair, and now she was on her feet with no memory of getting there. She stared at her phone in horror, piecing together what had happened. She bolted up the stairs with a speed she didn't know she still possessed. She wanted to check that Henry was still asleep, but the thundering of her feet against the stairs had woken him up. He was sitting upright in bed when she reached the door._

_"Mom?" he questioned, still half asleep and rubbing at his eyes._

_"Henry, I have to go. I'll be back."_

_Henry became more alert. "Go? Go where?" His eyes widened. "It's Emma, isn't it?" He only knew that she and Regina were no longer at each other's throats. "What happened?!"_

_"I don't know. But I'm going to find out."_

_Henry threw the covers back, starting to get out of bed. "I'm coming with you!"_

_"Oh, no. No, Henry. No you're not." She was at the side of his bed in a flash. "I need you to stay here." She took his face in her hands and pressed a kiss to his forehead, closing her eyes against the threatening tears. "Please, Henry. Stay here. Go back to sleep." She gently pushed him back into the bed, pulling the blankets up around him once more._

_Henry frowned, but let her tuck him back in. He couldn't remember the last time she'd said 'please'._

_"And don't even think about sneaking out the window, I'll know if you do."_

_"Okay," his voice was full of wonder. It wasn't often he saw his adoptive mother in this sort of state. He didn't know what to make of it._

_Regina left the room and dialed the number of Storybrooke General Hospital as she all but ran to her car._

_Once she got there, she ran up to the first person on staff she could find. "Is she here?" she demanded._

_"Who?" came the startled reply._

_"Emma Swan!" Regina resisted the urge to shake the other person into submission. "Is she here?"_

_Realization dawned on the other person and they nodded._

_"I want to see her."_

_"You can't."_

_Regina glared at the fact they even dared to tell her she couldn't do something. "Excuse me? I will see who I please!"_

_"Regina, you can't," they were pretty bold to use her name. "She's in pretty bad shape."_

_"Do you think I _care_? You can't stop me from seeing her!" She made to brush past them but found herself stopped by a pair of hands on her shoulders. "How _dare _you put your hands on me? I am still your queen," she glowered._

_"And I am still a doctor!" They snapped, clearly done with Regina's attitude. "And as a doctor I am _telling _you, Your Majesty, you can not see her."_

_Regina glared. "Fine!" she snapped. "But don't expect me to leave until I do."_

_Five in the morning rolled around. The same person happened to be walking by the waiting area when they caught sight of Regina. "You're still here?"_

_"I _told _you I am not leaving until I see Miss Swan."_

_With a shake of their head, the response was, "Go home, Regina. She's not awake."_

_Regina's eyes widened in alarm. "It's been hours!" she protested._

_"Yes, it has. Which is why you should go home. She's fallen into a coma, and frankly, we don't know if she will wake up."_

_Regina leapt to her feet. "You _have _to let me see her! I can wake her up!"_

_"How –" Realization came. "_Oh_." Then laughter. "That's rich. The Evil Queen claiming to have true love."_

_"I will prove it!" Regina hissed, desperate to see Emma in whatever state she was in. Desperate to pull her out of it. "Let me see her or I will have you fired. Like it or not, I am still Mayor of this town."_

_Finally she was allowed to the room Emma was being kept in. Her heart sank at the sight of her all hooked up to various machines, a breathing mask over her face. "Oh, Emma…" She rushed to her side, blinking to clear her blurring vision. She'd seen it work before. Emma had brought Henry back from death's door. Regina was determined to do the same. She took one of Emma's hands in her own, not liking how very cold it was. "Don't you dare leave me," she whispered. "You can't leave _Henry_!" She shook her head. "I won't let you leave us." She squeezed her hand and pressed a kiss to her forehead, lingering there, hoping beyond all hope that this would work._

_There was no wind, though. No wash of power like when Emma had brought Henry back. There was only the steady beep of the heart monitor. She straightened up, looking down at Emma's still unconscious form in dismay. "That should've worked," she whispered. "Why didn't it work?" She didn't even know she'd yelled until she felt multiple sets of hands dragging her away from the room._

_"Just go home." They told her. "Just go home."_

_So she did._

She'd returned every day, though, after sending Henry off to school. For one week she did this, until one day,

_Regina sat in a chair next to Emma's hospital bed, clasping one of her hands in both of her own, watching intently for any sign of wakefulness. She kissed her fingers. _Wake up_, she begged in her head. _Just wake up.

_The heart monitor sped up, making Regina bolt upright and stare at it, watching as the numbers changed._ She's waking up_, she thought. _She'll be okay. _But then it started beeping far too often, the numbers changing so fast Regina couldn't even tell what they were anymore. Medical personnel rushed in, and she was forced to let go of Emma's hand. She was pushed out of the way and they surrounded the bed. It was a flurry of confusion until one sound shattered Regina's heart to pieces. Flatline. A crash cart was brought in with a defibrillator. Regina could only watch as her whole world fell apart._

_Emma's bedclothes were ripped away._

_"Clear!" Everyone backed up as the defibrillator paddles were used on her chest in attempt to jumpstart her heart._

_Nothing._

_"Clear!"_

_Nothing a second time._

_"Clear!"_

_Nothing but the tone of the flatline._

_"Call it."_

_"No!" Regina cried out, a sob being torn from her chest. "NO!"_

_She sank to the ground. Her cries weren't enough to prevent her from hearing,_

_"Time of death, 11:13."_

Bringing us to present time. Regina couldn't remember getting home, but she was no longer in the hospital. She didn't even remember throwing a glass at the wall, watching as it shattered into a thousand pieces. She could only remember picking up a shard of the glass, staring at it in morbid fascination. Her whole world was gone. Henry was still at school, blissfully unaware of the events of the day.

Rational thought had all but fled from Regina as she locked herself in the bathroom, and she felt empty of everything as she stripped herself down to nothing. Just a shell of a person. She'd completely shut down. She turned the faucet on as far as it would go and sat in the tub, not even feeling the scalding heat of the water. She drew her knees up to chest and sobbed openly.

What Regina didn't know was that Henry had told Mary Margaret what had happened, who was all too willing to drive him to the hospital. She couldn't fathom why Regina would visit every day and refuse to bring Henry with her. If she and David had known their daughter was in the hospital they'd be visiting every day as well, and they'd have found a way to get Henry there.

"I'm sorry, Snow," it was Dr. Whale. "You're too late. She…she didn't make it."

"Let me see her, please!" Henry cried out. "Everyone thought it was too late for me, too. Everyone but her. She saved me. Let me save her!"

Dr. Whale shook his head. "If this was something true love would work on, then she would be awake already."

Mary Margaret was confused. "What do you mean? Charming and I didn't even know she was in the hospital."

Dr. Whale cocked his head to the side. "This is going to sound very odd, but aren't you aware that your step-mother seems to be in love with your daughter? Or seemed, that is. It didn't work."

Mary Margaret shook her head. "Never underestimate the power of family. A child's love…that's the strongest love of all. Let Henry see her, please. He can fix this."

Henry nodded. "Please, Dr. Whale. Let me save my mom."

Dr. Whale couldn't deny the child an opportunity to try, no matter how much he thought it wouldn't work. "Okay. We haven't moved her yet."

"You better not move her at all," Mary Margaret told him. "Because she's going to wake up."

Regina turned the faucet off. The tub was as full as it could get without spilling over. Regina laid back, turning her gaze upon the shard of glass she'd left sitting on the edge. She took it in her hand, looking at it in the same morbid fascination as before. _Who knew that of all things, a simple piece of glass would be the great Evil Queen's damnation? _Without even flinching, she slashed an angry line across her arm, knowing just where to strike an artery. Suddenly white was stained red, and Regina felt dizzy. She clenched her hand around the glass, cutting herself further, giving her something to focus on other than the pain of losing Emma. Something to concentrate on until her dizziness consumed her, making her slide back into the water, under the water. The water went red as her vision went black.

The door wasn't even locked. It was so easy to get in. "Regina!" Nothing. "Regina!" With no reply, there was no choice but to go up the stairs. "Regina?" Nothing in the bedroom. "Regina!" Nothing in Henry's bedroom. A light showing from underneath the bathroom door. The door was locked. "Regina!" Pounding on the door was left unanswered. "Regina!" Time to kick the door down. It took three swift kicks before it gave away. "Oh my god, Regina!" The clothes a crumpled heap on the floor. The bath tub filled to the very top. The water _red. _"REGINA!" Arms plunged into the depths of the water, fingers wrapping around the figure found there. The unconscious body of Regina ripped through the surface and pulled onto the floor, laid out on her back. The shard of glass pulled from the hand it had been embedded in. Her cheeks were slapped in attempt to shock her awake. "God damn it, Regina. Don't you dare die on me. _Don't you dare!_" Head tilted back. Listen for sound of breathing. Clogged airway. CPR compressions. Fifteen, twenty, thirty. Increased anxiety until eventually water was spluttered out onto the floor and Regina curled onto her side, coughing, blinking, returning to consciousness. Eyes that looked up, taking in the sight of her savior. A weak smile. "I'm dead."

"No!" Attempts to shake Regina back into reality. "No, you're not!"

Confusion crossed Regina's face. "But you are."

"No, I'm not."

Regina attempted to sit up, but was weak from the blood she was still losing. "But you're dead! I was there, Emma! You were _dead!_"

Emma nodded. "I was. But I'm not anymore. But _you _will be. I need to stop this." She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around Regina's most injured arm. "What the _fuck _were you thinking, Regina?" Her voice was raw with emotion as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"You were dead," Regina replied softly. "I wanted to join you."

"No, Regina!" Emma choked out, gathering her in her arms. "No," she sobbed. She held her close, stroking her wet hair. "Regina, you can't ever _ever _do anything like this again!" She kept pressure on Regina's bleeding arm, wanting desperately to stop it.

"I didn't want to live without you," Regina was crying again as well.

"How could you _dare _leave Henry parentless? How could you _dare_?"

"I wasn't…"

"That's _exactly_ what you were doing, Regina! You thought I was dead and you damn near killed yourself, too!"

"He would've had Snow and Charming."

"They're his _grandparents_, not his parents. _We're _his parents, you hear me? _We _are!" She shook her head. "Jesus Christ, Regina. How could you be so _fucking _stupid?!"

"Because I love you!" Regina snapped at her, still in tears. "_Because I fucking love you!_"

"And I love you. Regina, you know that."

"I couldn't lose love, not again. I couldn't become that person again, Emma! I couldn't!"

"Okay," Emma tried to calm herself down. "Okay. I'm here now," she murmured. "I'm here." She cupped Regina's cheek, looking into her eyes. "I won't leave you ever again," she promised. "Ever." She kissed her, pouring all her love into the kiss as she cradled her to her body.


	2. Chapter 2

"I tried bringing you back, you know," Regina stated as she tried to find a position where the seatbelt wouldn't rub against her stitches. "Why didn't it work?"

Emma let out a long sigh of air, forcing herself to keep her concentration on the road. "I don't know, Regina."

"It worked when it was Henry. I did the _exact _same thing, Emma. It should've worked."

"Well, maybe that's why it didn't."

"What?"

"Parents and their children don't kiss on the lips. So, maybe that's why when I kissed Henry on the forehead it worked. But if you did the same thing… that's not how people romantically involved kiss. Well, it is, but it's not the most powerful."

"You had a breathing mask…"

"Exactly."

"Meaning I went through a week of pure hell for nothing? If I'd just taken the stupid thing off you would've woken up?"

Emma shrugged. "Maybe. It's just a theory. You can't beat yourself up over it though, Regina. You've done quite enough of that for the rest of your life. I mean, come on, did you even _read _Romeo and Juliet?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Seriously? William Shakespeare, one of the greatest playwrights of all time, not ringing any bells? Is there any form of entertainment at all in the Enchanted Forest?"

"Jousting is always entertaining."

Emma couldn't help but laugh. "Jesus Christ, sounds like it's stuck in the twelfth century. Basically, in the story of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet takes a sleeping potion or whatever to fake her death so she can be with Romeo, who she loves. Only Romeo doesn't get the message that her death is faked so he thinks she's really dead and he kills himself. Then Juliet wakes up and finds out that Romeo is dead, and then she kills herself. We damn near reenacted that."

"That sounds horrible, why would anyone read that?"

"Good question." She turned into the driveway of Regina's manor and parked. "Time to clean up the aftermath."

Regina carefully unbuckled the seatbelt and got out of the car. She closed the door and then turned to Emma. "Oh god, what about Henry?"

"It's okay, I had Mary – uh, Snow and Charming take him for the night. I don't know how I knew something was wrong, but I did, and I didn't want Henry around for it." Emma walked around the car and wrapped an arm around Regina's waist. She would've taken one of her hands but she didn't want to upset the stitching. She walked with her to the door and then into the house. "You just sit on the couch or something; I'll take care of the mess. I don't want it triggering PTSD."

"What's that?"

"Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It's like… reliving something bad, and that's definitely something you don't need to be reliving." She walked her over to the couch. "I'll be back." She cupped Regina's face in her hands and kissed her lovingly. Then she left to head up the stairs.

On her way to the bathroom she heard the crunch of glass beneath her feet. She knelt down and carefully picked up the pieces, then threw them away. Once she was sure she didn't leave any pieces behind, she continued on to the bathroom. She shuddered at the memory of what had happened only hours ago. She glared at the bloodstained piece of glass that had nearly ended Regina's life before throwing it away as well. She picked up the clothing and put them with the rest of the dirty clothes. Then, having saved the worst for last, she knelt by the tub and reached in, pulling the plug up from the drain. She watched for a few moments as the bloodied water swirled down the drain before forcing herself to look away, and then washed her hands.

Emma went back down the stairs, returning to Regina. She sat down beside her on the couch and wrapped an arm around her, drawing her close. "I'm sorry," she murmured.

"For what?" Regina asked curiously as she rested her head on Emma's shoulder.

"For scaring the shit out of you." She kissed the top of her head. "But you scared the shit out of me, too."

"I wasn't thinking."

"No," Emma agreed. "You weren't."

"Why did you call me when you were driving? If you hadn't, none of this would've happened."

"I guess I wasn't thinking, either."

"Don't do it again."

"I think I've learned my lesson."

"Have you?"

"I was in a coma for a week, I was clinically dead, and then I find you nearly dead in the bath tub. I've definitely learned my lesson." She gently tilted Regina's head up off her shoulder so she could look into her eyes. "I never want to find out what it's like to lose you."

A tear rolled down Regina's cheek.

"Oh, don't cry," Emma murmured. "Please don't cry." She hugged her close. "It's okay," she whispered. "It's okay, baby." She rubbed soothing circles on her back.

Regina buried her face in Emma's shoulder, trying to stop her tears. It didn't work as she thought of how Henry would be ruined had he lost either, or even worse, both of them. She thought of hearing the sound of the crash, seeing Emma in the hospital bed, the flatline. The memories swirled around her head, not letting her keep composure.

Emma could only hold her, waiting for her to calm down, repeating that she was here and that she wouldn't leave.

"Thank you," Regina murmured when she'd finally calmed.

Emma brushed the drying tears away. "You alright, now?"

Regina nodded. "I think so." As she sat up properly, her stomach let out a growl.

"Geez, when was the last time you ate, Regina?"

Regina thought, but she couldn't remember. "I… don't know."

"Okay, you definitely need to eat, then." Emma stood up. "I'll make you something, what do you want?"

"How are your lasagna making skills?"

"Not as good as yours."

"Do your best."

Emma smiled. "Alright." She pressed a kiss to the top of Regina's head. "Don't forget you're anemic now, you should probably have something with iron in it, too."

"I have some raisins."

"That'll work. Have those while I make the lasagna."

Regina started to get up but Emma gently pushed her back down.

"Just tell me where they are."

"I'm not an invalid," Regina protested.

"Uh, you kinda are. Just let me take care of you."

Regina sighed. "Fine. There's a box in the cupboard above the sink."

"Okay." Emma went off to the kitchen. Sure enough, there was a box of Sun Maid raisins in the cupboard above the sink. She grabbed the box and went back to the living room and to Regina. After opening the box, she handed it to her. "Here."

"Thanks." Regina took the box and poured some of the raisins out onto her lap, where she picked them out one at a time with one hand and ate them. "What are you looking at?" she asked when Emma was still standing there after a few moments.

Emma shook herself out of whatever trance she was in. "Nothing." She left the room and headed back to the kitchen. It had been a long time since she'd made lasagna herself, but she would do her best to remember how.

Regina still tried to get Emma to leave at the usual time she snuck out so Henry wouldn't see her.

"Are you serious right now?" Emma asked. "I'm not leaving you alone! Not after…" She shook her head. "No."

"If Henry –"

Emma sighed. "Remember what we were talking about, Regina? We really should tell him. Don't you think he'll be happy? Don't you think he'll like that we don't have to fight for him anymore?"

"Now isn't the time."

"Now is the _perfect _time, Regina! You can't be alone. I'm not leaving you alone, not tonight, and he's being brought back tomorrow morning. He'll probably see me, and then we'll have to tell him. Aren't you tired of hiding?"

Regina sighed. She was losing this battle, and Emma had a point. "I guess."

"Good, because I'm done sneaking around. It was fine when we didn't know what we were doing, but we've evolved from that place. We _do _know what we're doing now, and it isn't something that should be a secret anymore."

"Okay." Regina nodded. "Okay. We'll tell him."

"Thank you." Emma leaned forward and kissed her. "It has been getting pretty lonely to return to an empty bed when I could be with you."

Regina smiled. "Well then, what are you waiting for?"

It was around seven in the morning when there was a knock at the door.

"That'll be Henry," Emma murmured, lips close to Regina's ear. "Do you want me to get it?"

Regina forced herself more awake. "I'll come with you."

"Okay." Emma smiled. That meant Regina really _was _ready to tell Henry about them. She slid out of the bed and put on her clothes from the previous day. She wasn't about to present her naked body to her son, and her parents who were probably with him. By the time she was dressed, Regina was carefully sitting up, only in her light blue satin nightgown. "Come on." Emma offered her hand and Regina took it briefly, only long enough to help her stand up. She was beginning to regret injuring herself on both arms. She missed the simple intimacies she now couldn't have until she was healed.

Emma wrapped an arm around her waist again and together they made their way out of the room and down the stairs as there was more knocking.

"Coming!" Regina called.

They reached the door and Emma pressed a kiss to her cheek before opening the door. As she'd suspected, Henry was on the porch with Snow and Charming.

"Mom!" Henry rushed forward and threw his arms around Regina. She stumbled and would have fallen if not for Emma's arm around her waist.

"So it's true?" it was Snow.

Regina looked down at Henry. "Henry…"

Henry let go and took a step back, looking at the two of them. "It's okay, I know."

"You know?" Emma asked, looking from Henry to her parents. "How do you know?"

"It was Dr. Whale," Snow answered. "He told us that Regina tried to wake you up."

"Oh. Well, see, Regina? They knew anyway. Told you there wasn't a point in hiding it anymore."

Charming caught sight of Regina's left arm, her most injured. "Jesus, Regina, what happened to you?"

Regina looked down at her arm. "Oh, I…uh…"

Emma could tell she wasn't comfortable with anyone knowing. "I'm not the only one who had an accident." She squeezed Regina's waist comfortingly.

"Don't get into any more, okay?" Henry kissed Emma's and then Regina's cheek. "I don't want to have to keep saving you," he told Emma. "And I don't want to have to need to save you," he told Regina.

"Thank you," Emma addressed her parents. "For watching him."

"It's not a problem," Snow replied. "We love having him."

"So…" Charming was catching up. "You two." He pointed at Regina and Emma. "You're…?"

"Together?" Emma supplied. "Yes." She smiled over to Regina. "And she's not nearly as evil as the Regina you used to know."


	3. Chapter 3

"We share a son, we share a bed, isn't it about time we share a house?"

Regina turned in the bed to face Emma, eyes wide. "You want to move in?"

Emma shrugged. "Why not?"

Regina blinked, trying to come up with one good reason for her not to.

"I mean, I practically live here already," Emma went on. "And it was fine living with Mary Margaret when we were just roommates and I didn't know she was my mother, but now it's just weird. I mean, what 29 year old woman still lives with her parents?"

"Do you realize you started two of those three sentences with 'I mean'?"

"What are you, a grammar nazi?"

"A what?"

"Never mind. So… what's the verdict?"

Regina sighed. "I can't think of a good reason for you not to," she admitted.

Emma smiled and wrapped her arms around her. "Yay!"

"You are such a child."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Oh, you _so _don't get to sit on a pedestal of maturity." She pulled back, gesturing to Regina's stitches to prove her point. "Any usual wound requiring stitches would've healed by now, and those things have been there for a month. They're not even partially dissolved. You should've scarred over by now."

"Alright, fine, I retract my statement that you're a child."

"Thank you." She gently took Regina's arm and studied it. "Really, it's like day one. I thought time was moving forward in this town again."

"It is," Regina insisted.

"Yet…"

"Emma, time's not frozen. Not anymore. It's only taking forever to heal because it was I strike to kill, I hit an artery on purpose. I'd imagine that's not what one would call 'any usual wound'."

Emma sighed. "Regina…"

"Don't 'Regina' me. You're the one that brought it up."

"Okay. Okay, I'm sorry. Come here." Emma drew her into her arms again and lightly stroked her hair. "I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just worried, okay? I care about you and I don't like seeing you hurt, especially when it's because of me."

"Emma, it's not your fault."

"Isn't it, though?"

"Emma, no."

"But it is! You only have those stupid stitches because you cut yourself and you wouldn't have done that if I weren't basically dead in the hospital and I wouldn't have been there if I would've just waited until I got here to talk to you instead of calling you when I was driving. How is it not my fault?"

"Ssh, Emma, you'll wake Henry." Regina pulled back but gently stroked her thumb over Emma's cheek. "Don't blame yourself, okay? It doesn't matter."

"But –"

"No, it doesn't matter."

"Why?"

"Because I love you. _That _is what matters."

"Geez, kid, you're squishing me."

"Let her breathe, dear."

Henry let go of Emma and looked up at them with happy, excited eyes. "You mean it? You're really gonna move in?"

"I really am."

Then it was Regina's turn to be squished.

"Oh!" Regina wondered when Henry had gotten so strong. 

"Thank you," he said as he pulled back.

"For what, dear?"

"For letting her move in, duh!"

"Hey." Emma placed a hand on Henry's shoulder, who looked over to her. She shook her head. "Not nice."

Henry's shoulders sagged a bit. "Sorry."

"Oh, no harm no foul." Regina ruffled Henry's hair.

Emma shook her head again, wondering how it was that every time she tried doing the parenting thing, it was always contradicted by Regina. She was going to have to work on syncing up with her parenting skills.

Henry's eyes lingered on Regina's arm. "Is that ever going to heal?"

Emma diverted his attention, kneeling down beside him. She took his hands in hers. "Hey, kid. How 'bout you go and play your video games or something?"

"But –"

"Listen to your mother, dear," Regina told him.

Henry sighed. "Alright." He went off to do as he was told.

Emma rose back to her feet. "Sorry about that."

"I can definitely see the family resemblance."

Emma laughed softly. "Yeah, well, what can I say? He's nearly a teenager, and those were my most, let's say _defined _ages."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning I was always right."

Regina scoffed. "He must've gotten that trait a few years early, then."

"If you mean the fairytale thing, he kinda _was _always right."

"So? Whether or not something happens to be true doesn't mean it changes the fact that he thinks he's always right."

Emma laughed, holding her hands up. "Okay, okay. Truce." She knew they would go back and forth all day if she didn't put a stop to it. It was, after all, what they'd done best from the very first time they met.

Emma unlocked the front door and closed it behind her. "Regina?" The Mayor hadn't been to work that day and her car was parked outside. Emma wanted to know why. She looked around but didn't see her in the main living room.

"Up here." Regina was at the top of the stairs, wine glass in hand. She started down the stairs but only managed to take two steps before pitching forward.

Emma ran up the stairs, catching her before she fell flat on her face. "Jesus, Regina, how much did you drink?" As she helped straighten Regina up, the glass slipped from Regina's hand, breaking when it hit the stairs. 

"Mmm… Dunno."

Emma shook her head. Regina was completely plastered. "Okay, come on. Let's get you to bed before you pass out." She put one of Regina's arms around her shoulders and wrapped her own arm around Regina's waist. She helped her back up to the top of the stairs, but once Regina's feet were on flat ground, they started dragging. "Alright, you deadweight." Emma bent just a bit so she could put her other arm under Regina's legs, lifting her up. She staggered under the weight. "Jesus, Regina," she gasped. "You're heavier than you look." She carried her to the bedroom and sat her down on the bed. "You just stay right here," she told her as she worked on getting her shoes off. Once they were off, she cast them aside and lifted the covers, helping Regina get under them. "I'm going to clean up that mess, then I'll be back."

Emma left the room and found a broom and dustpan to sweep the broken glass into, as well as a rag to soak up the spilled wine. After five minutes or so the job was done and she returned to the bedroom. "Would you like to tell me what the hell you're doing? And where's Henry? How could you let him see you like this?"

"He'ssssssssssssnot here."

"He's not here? Then where is he, Regina?"

"Ssssssssssssssnow and Chaaaarming."

Emma rubbed her hand against her face, then pushed back her hair. At least she was smart about something. She went over to the bed and sat on the edge, looking at Regina, whose head lolled against the headboard with barely open eyes. "Regina." She took one of her hands in her own. "Why are you so drunk?"

"'Cause Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii drank a loooot," her slurred sentence, said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, was punctuated with an out of character giggle.

Emma shook her head. She may as well be talking to a five year old.

"Okay, but why were you drinking in the first place?"

Like flipping a switch, Regina went from uncharacteristically giddy to upset. "It'sssss not true looove," the 'v' in particular was heavily emphasized.

Even though her eyes were only slits, Emma could see the tears gathering in her eyes. She cupped her cheeks. "What are you talking about?" She tried to look into her eyes.

Regina turned her head away. "Usss," she answered. "We donnnn't haaave it."

"Regina, look at me."

Regina reluctantly turned her head back to face her, but her vision was so badly blurred she could only make out her silhouette.

"What is this about?"

"The hosssssssssssssspital."

Emma sighed. This again. Of course. Why should she expect any different? "Regina," she murmured gently.

Regina shook her head, tears falling. "Weee do not _haaaave _it!" she snapped, as much as her drunken slur would allow her.

Emma let her hands fall away from Regina's face. "You think we don't have true love."

"Not thiiiiiink. _Knoooow._"

"Regina!" Emma snapped right back.

Regina's head straightened up, as she seemed to sober up the tiniest bit.

"Stop this! Just stop it!" Emma shook her head, feeling her own tears prickle at the backs of her eyes. She knelt down by the bed, peering up at her. "What do I have to do?" she asked. "What do I have to do to prove it to you?" There wasn't much she hadn't done. She shared her son, she slept with her, she moved in, she constantly told her she loved her, she saved her life. What more could she possibly -

"Marry me."

Emma blinked in surprise. "What?"

"M-Marry me."

"Regina, you're drunk." Emma straightened up, sitting back down on the bed beside her.

"Soooooooo? It's – it's – it's what, what I w-want." And she gave herself over to the tears.

Emma wrapped her arms around her. "Ssh, ssh, it's alright." She held her closer and rubbed her back, wondering if she'd even remember this conversation once she slept the alcohol off.

"I w-want you –"

"I know. I know, sweetie." Emma stroked her hair. "Just calm down." She felt Regina's fingers clutch at her shirt, pulling her closer. "I'm here," she soothed. "I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. Okay? I'm right here with you." She kissed her cheek.

Emma held her, calmed her, murmured to her for about half an hour until Regina finally cried herself to sleep. Emma laid her down gently and fixed the blankets around her. She shook her head as she stood up. She was going to have one massive hangover. She pressed a kiss to her forehead and quietly left the room and went back down the stairs. She went to the medicine cabinet in the kitchen and poured a couple aspirin pills into her hand and grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator before heading up the stairs once more. She set the pills and the bottle of water on the nightstand for Regina when she woke up. She watched her sleep for a few minutes before leaving the room to keep herself occupied until she woke up.


	4. Chapter 4

Regina sat up in bed, groaning under the pain of her headache. "Ow." She brought a hand up to her temple, placing two fingers against it in a gentle massage. She glanced to her right and saw the aspirin and water sitting there, waiting. She grabbed both gratefully, wasting no time sending the pills down her throat with the water. She winced at the lukewarm temperature, but it was better than nothing.

"Do you remember anything about last night?"

Regina jumped at the voice, startled by it. She hadn't seen Emma standing in the doorway. "Jesus Christ, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Emma walked further inside the room, her crossed arms falling to her sides. "And _you _nearly drank yourself into alcohol poisoning. So I'll ask you again, what do you remember about yesterday?" She went over to the bed and sat on the edge.

Regina thought. "I…" Her eyebrows drew together in concentration. "God, I'm so hungover." She shook her head and dropped her face into her hands. "Can you close the blinds?"

"Okay." Emma patted her leg above the blanket and got up once more, walking over to the window and closing the blinds. The room got considerably darker. She returned to the bed. "Better?"

Regina lifted her head cautiously, then visibly relaxed. "Yeah, a bit." It was only a moment before she frowned, however. "I can't think." Suddenly there was a sharp pain in her stomach, as if she'd been stabbed. The longer she was awake, the worse the symptoms were getting. She curled helplessly onto her side, letting out a wail of despair, "It hurts!"

Emma chose not to comment that it was her own fault, she knew it wouldn't help any. "I know," she murmured soothingly. "I know." She'd had her fair share of hangovers, and they were never fun. She kicked off her shoes and crawled onto the bed, slipping under the blankets beside Regina. "Come 'ere." She gently pulled Regina so the upper half of her body was laying in her lap. "It sucks, I know." She stroked her hair, feeling a slight wetness as the tips of her fingers brushed against her cheek.

"This is horrible!" Her voice choked over the words, pain evident. The great Regina Mills reduced to a pitiful mess in a handful of moments.

Emma knew better than to tell her to ignore it or think of something else, so she was out of options, out of ways to comfort her. The best she could do was make sure she wasn't left alone. She knew it could take the better part of an hour for aspirin to start kicking in. It made her heart sink when Regina began letting out sobs that racked her body, knowing there was nothing she could do to make it better. Not this time. "Ssh." She continued stroking her hair.

After a few more moments of agony, Regina reached up and seized the stroking hand, grasping it tightly. It made Emma gasp a little in pain. Regina was so very strong, even during times of crushing weakness. Emma briefly wondered if it was the same strength women had while giving birth. When giving birth to Henry, Emma had been, for all intents and purposes, alone. Not even those helping to make sure Henry was born safely offered a hand for her to hold. Perhaps they were wiser from experience.

Emma wouldn't pull her hand away though, not even as she felt as though it was truly breaking. She wouldn't deprive Regina of anything that would make what she was going through a little bit easier. Emma sure wished she had someone to cling to during the aftermath of having one drink too many, but she never had. And, surprisingly enough, she hadn't once gotten that badly drunk since her arrival in Storybrooke, no matter how much grief Regina had given her in the beginning. Perhaps it had been her need to be close to Henry, her need to have some part in his life, that made her strive to be the best role model she could be. She hadn't even realized she'd kicked old habits out of her life until that moment.

Regina had almost silenced, seemingly over the worst of it, when in a small voice she stated, "I don't feel good."

To those who hadn't experienced what Regina was going through, it would seem like an overly vague statement of the obvious. But Emma wasn't blind; she knew exactly what she meant. "Okay." She got out of the bed and went around. "Sit up," she encouraged in a gentle tone. She offered her hand and Regina took it, and together they helped her rise from the bed. Then, very much like the night before, Emma draped one of Regina's arms across her shoulders, wrapping her own arm around her waist. In hesitant, deliberate steps, they made their way to the bathroom.

Emma lifted the toilet seat up as she helped Regina kneel before it. Only a moment later, Regina's nausea overwhelmed her, bubbling up inside her and spilling out into the toilet. Emma did her best to keep her hair swept back, but with Regina's short bob, it was hard to keep it out of the way. It would be easier if it were long enough to be pulled into a ponytail, but it wasn't. Still, Emma tried. There was nothing worse than cleaning vomit from one's hair, she knew that from experience. As she kept it at bay with one hand, she rubbed soothing circles on Regina's back with the other.

Regina's throat burned, and still the waves of nausea kept coming, merciless. It was pure torture. She rarely ever got sick, not this bad. In fact, the last time she could recall throwing up had been after she saw her mother wrench Daniel's heart from his chest and crush it. It felt endless then, too, except then she felt that with it she was expelling everything that was good in her. After that night she had never been the same. Only when Emma came did she start feeling herself revert to who she used to be, but she never quite got there. Instead she was something, someone, new. Not the naïve girl she had been, but certainly not the evil entity she had allowed herself to become. No, she was better. Stronger than either had ever been. And with that strength, she forced the last of her sickness out of her body, before dissolving into tears once more.

Love wasn't a weakness, like her mother had claimed. Neither were emotions. They, too, were strength. Even those commonly labeled as weak. That was what she remembered as she sank back against Emma, allowing her love to ease the pain.

Emma flushed the toilet, allowing Regina to rest against her, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "It's okay," she murmured. "The worst is over now." As she held her, she thought back to Regina's drunken proposal, and realized that she would. Should Regina remember what had been said or should she ask again, Emma would do it. She'd say yes. She'd make the one commitment she had once told herself she would never be able to make. Because she couldn't imagine a life without Regina in it, and because when she loved someone as much as she loved Regina, the concept of marriage wasn't quite so scary anymore.

As Regina was brushing her teeth, now able to stand on her own two feet without help, to get rid of the remnants of vomit still in her mouth, her eyes widened, memories of the previous night slamming into her all at once. She turned to face Emma in the doorway, taking the toothbrush out of her mouth and lowering it to her side. "I remember."

Emma raised her eyebrows, surprised. "Oh? How much?"

"Everything."

"Everything?" Emma repeated, cautious. "So you remember that –"

"I asked you to marry me," Regina cut her off, voice soft as she spoke the words Emma was going to say. "Yeah." She turned back around to finish brushing her teeth. She felt a faint blush rise to her cheeks, and she wondered if Emma could see it in the mirror's reflection.

Emma waited until she was finished, trying to calm the beating heart in her chest that threatened to drown out all other sound. Then she asked, "Are you going to take it back?"

Regina whirled around to face her once more. "Am I going to –" She started to repeat Emma's question, then cut herself off. "Emma, just because it was something I said while drunk doesn't mean that it was only said due to low inhibitions." She shook her head and rested her hands on Emma's shoulders. "I said it's what I want and I meant it."

"Do you…still…mean it?" She felt awkward asking, but Regina's words weren't exactly clear. Not in her head, a quivering mess of anticipation.

Regina drew closer to her, hands sliding down to rest on Emma's hips. "I would very much enjoy," her voice was low and seductive. "Having you as my wife, Miss Swan."

Their lips met and Emma held onto her for dear life, putting all the energy she had into that kiss. It was a kiss that was deal-sealing, a kiss that forged a promise between the two women.

Emma hadn't even realized they were moving until she felt the back of her legs bump against the foot of the bed. "Mm, Regina." Her eyes flew open, looking over to the bedroom door that was wide open. "The door." She couldn't hold back a moan as Regina's lips assaulted her neck.

"Henry's not here," Regina purred against her skin. "Remember?"

"O-Oh." Relief flooded through her veins as she succumbed to the arousal and desire that was ever increasing. It wasn't long before she felt her back hit the bed, Regina on top of her. She slid her hands up her back as she arched her neck, exposing more of it to her lover.

Regina tugged at Emma's shirt, lifting it up and then pulling it up over her head so only her bra remained. She tossed the shirt aside, casting it somewhere onto the floor. She attached her lips to Emma's collarbone, kissing and licking the skin there, drawing out small moans and whimpers of pleasure from the other woman.

Emma tangled her fingers in Regina's hair, feeling her arousal heighten and dampen the area between her legs. Almost involuntarily she lifted her hips, rolling them against Regina's. "Don't stop," she panted. "God, don't stop."

Regina kissed her way down her stomach, chuckling when Emma's hips bucked and hit her in the chin as she reached the bottom. "Someone's impatient," she teased in that husky voice of hers, tongue swirling around Emma's belly button.

Emma took in a sharp intake of breath, knowing that by the time Regina got to her, her underwear would be well and truly ruined. "Regina, please," she begged. Her hands slid down, grasping onto Regina's shirt, pulling, nearly tearing it off her body. "Please," she repeated.

Regina smirked and hovered above her for a moment before lowering herself, capturing Emma's lips in another kiss. The kiss was deep, a clash of lips and tongues, rough enough to bruise, yet soft enough not to hurt. While she distracted Emma with the kiss, she slid a hand down between their bodies to unbutton Emma's jeans. As the kiss broke, Emma gasping for air, Regina pulled the jeans down until they were off her body. She threw the pants backwards over her shoulder, not a care in the world as to where they landed. She rose so she was sitting on her knees, then unzipped the pencil skirt she wore, casting it away, before making a show of removing the nylons from her legs.

Emma watched her with greedy eyes, wanting to touch her so badly, and frowning when Regina backed away from her touch. Oh yes, Regina was evil, as far as the bedroom went. She bit her lip as Regina straddled her, watching as she removed her bra, leaving her breasts so close to her face, yet so far away. She grabbed at her, pulling her down and then rolling over so Emma was now on top. She smirked at Regina's surprised expression.

Emma dipped her head down, kissing her upper chest and then moving her kisses down to one of her breasts, covering it with kisses until she took the nipple into her mouth, enjoying the gasp it created. She felt hands tangle in her hair, and as she swirled her tongue around the hardened bud, felt those hands slide from her hair, down her back, and unclasp her own bra. She smirked and released her, sitting up and shrugging the bra the rest of the way off.

Regina used Emma's own move against her and flipped them around so she was once again on top. She smiled down at her, finding her strikingly beautiful as she caught her breath from being winded. She covered those lips with her own once more, moaning at the force Emma met her with. She sent a hand dancing between their bodies once again, and slipped her hand into Emma's soaked underwear, feeling rather than hearing her gasp as she touched the wetness that greeted her.

"Oh, Regina…" Emma pressed up against her hand. "Take me, I'm yours."

Regina smiled, rubbing her fingers against her. She pressed kisses up her neck, all the way to her ear, which she took lightly between her teeth, tugging gently. She smiled at the moan that escaped Emma rather loudly. She brought her lips against her ear, touching as she murmured, "I love you, Emma."

Before Emma could respond, Regina plunged to fingers inside her. Emma's arms flew around her, wrapping around her neck as her hips lifted, desperate to create a rhythm with Regina's hand. She took in a deep lungful of air, turning her face into Regina's neck. "I-I lo-love you, too." She kissed the skin there, arms tightening around her as her lower body worked in tandem with Regina's fingers, desperate for release. Her inner walls clenched around Regina's fingers, alerting them to how close she was already.

Emma closed her eyes tightly and closed her lips around a spot on the curve of Regina's neck, sucking gently, but enough to leave her mark. It was music to her ears when Regina moaned, and it earned her an increase of speed that Regina was using. Emma only bit down when Regina's fingers stroked over that spot that felt better than anywhere else, repeating until it brought Emma to orgasm. If her teeth weren't buried in Regina's neck, she would've screamed her pleasure.

If Regina felt any pain, she didn't voice it, enduring it until Emma released her, head falling back on a pillow as she panted in the afterglow.

"God, you're amazing," Emma murmured. "Really fucking amazing."

"Eloquent as always."

Emma cast a glare in Regina's direction, though there was no meaning behind it. "Careful what you make fun of, I just may decide not to return the favor."

Regina's jaw dropped open.

"That's right. I can be just as evil as you."


	5. Chapter 5

Luckily for Regina, there was a jewelry shop in Storybrooke that was connected in no way whatsoever to Mr. Gold's shop. She did her best to avoid Rumpelstiltskin at all times, because even though she'd changed, she wasn't quite so sure that he had.

"I thought the one who proposes was supposed to buy a ring on their own to surprise the fiancée with later," Emma stated as they got out of the car.

"If I did that, how would I know that you liked the one I picked? And if you didn't, I may not be able to get a refund. This is much safer. I can pick mine and you can pick yours." Regina opened the door, resulting in the tinkling of the bell above it. She frowned at the similarity to Mr. Gold's shop. It didn't last long, however, because she soon caught sight of all the shiny jewelry in the display case. She walked inside and held the door open for Emma, who followed in after her.

"Those look _really _expensive." Emma's eyes widened as she saw what sat in the display case.

Regina turned to face her. "Emma, I'm Mayor, that's a pretty big payroll, and more than that, I'm _Queen_. I have more gold than you can possibly imagine. This isn't going to hurt me financially."

"If you say so." Emma didn't want anything flashy, anyway. Not overly so, anyway. But Regina was still, well, _Regina _and Regina only settled for the best. So while Emma's ring would only cost thousands, Regina's would probably cost hundreds of thousands.

They walked to the large display case, surveying its contents. Within five minutes, Emma saw one that was simple enough for her tastes, while still being pretty obvious that it was an engagement ring.

"Can I see that one?" Emma asked the man behind the counter, tapping the glass above where the ring sat.

Regina looked over, curiously watching as the man took out what the rings were held in, which looked like cardboard covered with white velvet, lamely named, 'ring display'. After setting that on top of the display case, he removed the ring Emma was interested in, handing it to her.

Emma slid the ring onto her finger, finding that it fit perfectly. The band was silver, and it held a single diamond that looked to be about two karats. "I like it."

Regina blinked. "It's so…"

"Simple? Yeah. I'm not big on jewelry, it doesn't have to be flashy to serve its purpose."

"Alright. Well, now you're just going to be bored because I'm not done looking."

Emma shrugged. "No rush, look away." She took the ring off and placed it on the counter in front of her. "You can put that away," she told the man, gesturing to the ring display. "We'll be getting this."

The man nodded and did so.

Emma looked down at the ring she'd chosen, and then turned her eyes to what remained in the display case. Just because she'd picked what she wanted didn't mean that she couldn't continue looking, though she doubted she'd find one that she liked better.

About fifteen minutes later, Regina was still looking. Emma was now leaning her elbow against the counter, resting her head in her hand, nearly falling asleep as she waited for Regina to make her pick. Her eyes drooped closed and for a couple blissful seconds Emma started slipping into sleep, before they snapped open once more at the sound of Regina's gasp. When Emma looked over to her, she found that Regina was now a foot and a half to her right.

"Take that one out!" Regina's usual demanding tone was mixed with an odd squealing sound as she pointed through the glass.

The ring the man eventually handed to her seemed huge in comparison to the ring Emma had picked. The band was a silvery-white and there were three diamonds set in the top. There were two white square-cut diamonds set on either side that were about 1.25 karat, surrounding a big, five karat purple diamond. Regina slid the ring onto her finger as was delighted to find that it fit.

"Purple?" Emma asked. That was unusual.

"Yes, purple. It's my favorite color."

"Oh." Emma felt she should have known that, but she hadn't. Then again it did explain why the Evil Queen of Henry's book was normally drawn wearing a purple dress.

The total was a rather high number that made Emma's eyebrows hide in her hair and made her jaw hang open. And the fact that Regina was able to cover it on a debit, not credit, but debit card made it all the more astonishing.

"I can not believe you had all that money just sitting around on a debit card!" Emma exclaimed as they walked back to the car.

"I was saving it for a rainy day."

Emma stopped, lifting an eyebrow. "This is your idea of a rainy day?"

"No, but you see, there aren't going to _be _any more rainy days."

Emma grinned and grabbed Regina's waist, pulling her close and kissing her deeply.

After a few moments, Regina pulled away, smiling to herself. She hadn't quite expected that reaction, but she'd definitely take it. Maybe she would have to think of more things like that that were mildly romantic, or heavily so. But if _that _had been a reaction when Regina had barely even been trying, she imagined the reactions if she tried would be much less appropriate to be in public for.

As they got back into the car, Emma let out a long sigh. "God, I still have to tell my parents." She leaned her head against the window. She was still adjusting to the fact that she actually _had _parents, and she was going to have to include them in a major event in her life for the first time.

"Henry, too," Regina added as she slid into the driver's seat.

"_You're _telling him, right? It's not fair if I'm the one that has to tell everyone."

"Yes, I'm telling him." She buckled the seatbelt. "Put your seatbelt on."

Emma did so.

"It'll be easier now," Regina told her. "Now all you have to do is wear your ring and wait for someone to ask about it."

"That seems like the coward's way of doing it."

Regina shrugged, starting the car. "Do it however you want to do it, then. Just don't let them find out on their own."

Emma had a thought that made her snicker. "You know what's funny? You're going to be your step-daughter's step-daughter."

"Was that your way of changing the subject?" Regina asked, looking over to her with a raised eyebrow.

"Not really. I just thought of it and thought it was funny. Is there anyone else to tell?"

"I guess Snow will tell Red, if they're still friends. And Red will probably tell Granny. I suppose the Blue Fairy, er, Mother Superior will have to be the one to perform the thing. I can't think of anyone that became an official priest, so she's the closest thing we have to a priestess."

"No one else?"

"If you're referring to my mother she would either laugh in my face at best or rip out your heart at worst. So I'd rather she not know anything about it."

"So she's still an evil bitch, then."

"Yep. Still an evil bitch."

Not too much later, Regina pulled into the driveway of their home beside Emma's yellow bug. She smiled down at the ring on her finger before getting out of the car. She was unlocking the front door by the time Emma got out of the car.

She pushed it open and waited until Emma was inside before closing it again. Regina caught sight of the clock on the wall. "We'll have to be picking Henry up from school soon."

"Are you going to tell him today?" Emma asked.

"I don't see why not. I mean, this thing is kind of hard to miss." She smiled as she wiggled the fingers of her left hand, ring facing out.

"It's like three times bigger than mine," Emma agreed.

"Well, you're the one who wanted to go simple. That's not my fault."

"Never said it was."

**Author's Note: Message me for pictures of their rings. FF won't let me put the links here.**


	6. Chapter 6

"You're _what?!_"

"Snow, calm down."

Snow glared at her husband. "I will do no such thing!"

"If I knew you were going to make this big a deal about it I wouldn't have even told you," Emma said it half under her breath. "I thought you guys would be cool about this."

"We are," Charming insisted.

"Speak for yourself," Snow snapped. "Do you even _know _what that woman did to me?"

"Oh yes. But I also know what _you _did to _her_. But you don't see me holding grudges about it, do you? No. And do you want to know why? Because it's all water under the bridge, it's in the past. And if you refuse to leave it there then you can just… You can just not come at all! Because I am doing this with or without your approval. I've lived my whole life without parents, and I'm not going to fight to include you in something you clearly don't want to be a part of." Emma turned her gaze to her father. "If you can't get her to calm down about this, feel free to come without her. Regina doesn't have a father to give her away, and it would be nice if I did, at least."

Snow's jaw dropped open, clearly offended that her daughter would assume Charming would go anywhere without her.

"I think I'm done here." Emma turned and took long, purposeful strides to the door and slammed it shut behind her as she exited. In fact, every door she came across was slammed shut behind her until she got home.

"Ugh!" Emma threw her arms up into the air, aggravated. "I can't fucking please anyone!"

Regina walked out of the kitchen. She'd known Emma was home before she'd even said anything; the door slam rattled the entire house. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say that it didn't go well?"

"For someone who's supposed to be one of the good guys, she sure knows how to hold a grudge! All the parents I could've possibly had, and it just had to be _her_!"

Regina held her tongue, knowing it wouldn't be wise for her to say anything at the moment.

"I thought Snow White was supposed to sing and talk to animals and shit, not be judgmental over who her daughter decides to marry because she's stuck in the past! I mean, where the fuck is all that unconditional love that is supposed to come with parenthood? Isn't it supposed to extend somewhat to the kid's significant other? She was acting like you were some cannibal or something! Ugh! She just pisses me off. I'm sure that if Henry grows up and decides to marry someone we don't like, we won't try to guilt him out of it. I am just so _sick _of having fairytale parents! I liked things a whole lot better when I had no clue who they were, to be honest. I liked it better when she was just Mary Margaret and we were just friends…"

Emma hadn't even noticed the angry tears rolling down her cheeks until Regina wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into a comforting embrace. Emma just let go, then, letting her anger out with sobs instead of words.

"Emma…" Regina murmured, rubbing her back. She guided her over to the couch when she leaned so far into her she thought they'd topple over. She sat her down gently and sat beside her, keeping her in her arms. She couldn't think of anything to say that would make it better, but she could remind her of what was true, "I love you."

It made Emma laugh through her tears. "I love you, too."

Regina smiled a small smile. "Isn't that all that matters?"

Emma sniffled. "I suppose it should be. You and Henry."

Regina stroked her hair. "You okay now?"

They each flashed back to a parallel moment that had occurred after they returned from getting Regina stitched up.

Emma leaned into Regina's hand. "Yeah, I think I'm good now." She closed her eyes for a moment, but it was short-lived and they soon snapped open again. "Oh, god, do you think Henry heard that?"

Regina sighed. She'd nearly forgotten he was home. "I don't know. Maybe he's asleep."

"They're his _grandparents_; he'll hate me if he heard that…"

"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure you're his favorite, I think it'll take a lot more than that to make him hate you."

"Can you go check to see if he's asleep? Please? I don't want to see the look on his face if he's awake." It was like Regina hadn't even said anything.

Regina nodded. "Okay. But I'm telling you, he's not going to hate you." She rose from the couch and pressed a kiss to Emma's forehead before heading to the stairs.

When Regina opened the door to Henry's bedroom, he appeared to be sleeping, but she knew he could fake it if he wanted to. So she stood there for a few minutes, watching him closely, studying the way he was breathing and the way his eyes moved behind closed lids. Once she was convinced he wasn't faking, she quietly closed the door and went back down the stairs. "He's asleep," she told Emma as she drew closer to the couch. "So stop worrying." She sat down beside her once more. "And dinner's in the oven."

"Oh? What is it?"

"Chicken pot pie. They're bigger than the normal size, though. I didn't want to have to make six. Or nine. I swear, you and Henry have bottomless stomachs."

"So, wait, why is Henry sleeping before dinner?"

"He was tired," Regina answered. "I'll wake him up later."

"Okay…" Emma smirked. "So how long until it's done?"

"About an hour or so."

Emma grinned a very Cheshire cat-like grin and Regina knew her thoughts had plummeted to the gutter. "I can think of some ways to pass the time," she purred.

"Of course you can." Regina smirked.

Within seconds Emma slid into her lap.

"Wha – _here_?"

Emma nodded, looping her arms around her neck. "Don't you think a sense of danger makes things better?"

"It seems I don't have a choice either way, Miss Swan."

"You're right about that." She erased the distance between them, kissing Regina deeply.

Despite the issues with her mother, Emma found that she was quite liking the whole being engaged thing.


	7. Chapter 7

Emma has a plan when she wakes up, one that was birthed from a dream. It's only five in the morning and it's still dark outside, but she makes the first move of her plan even so. She reaches across to where Regina's alarm clock lies, careful not to wake her up with her movement, and switches it off. She does know that Henry has school in a few short hours, but she can take care of that. Regina could probably use a break, anyway. Emma could take care of breakfast too, because she knew how much Henry liked to sleep in for a few extra minutes and just wolf down a bowl of cereal before leaving. It was a habit that Regina was trying to break him of, coming up with various fancy and creative breakfast foods that usually took half an hour to an hour to make, and had the three of them sit down at the table as a family. Sometimes Regina was so housewife it made Emma shiver. Someday she'd have to introduce her to Desperate Housewives so she could see the striking similarities she had to the redhead of the show, and hopefully after seeing that, she'd knock it off. Emma knew it would be a false hope though, because if anyone had habits harder to break than Henry, it would be Regina. She who lived by routine like a strict schoolteacher. Try as she might, Emma hadn't quite been able to throw Regina off of that completely. Today, however, she knew she would succeed. If the day wasn't started right, it would be off kilter. Emma knew that by the simple action of switching off that ungodly loud alarm Regina's day would be started on Emma's terms. That, at least, was a start. But she wasn't ruining her day just for shits and giggles, no; she had a surprise in mind.

Emma slipped out of bed as quietly as she could, and when Regina's arms reached sleepily out to her, she shoved the blankets in her direction instead. She watched for a few moments, long enough to make sure she didn't wake up, and found herself smiling as Regina looked like a small child, nuzzling her face against the blankets. If Emma had a camera on her, she would've taken a picture. She walked quietly out of the room, closing the door softly behind her. She went down the stairs and snagged one of the romance novels Regina had tried to keep hidden from her, but that she knew about anyway. She carried it with her to the couch to pass the time until Henry had to be woken up.

Seven thirty rolled around and Emma knew it was about time to wake Henry up. School started at eight and it would only take him ten minutes overall to get ready. Five to dress and five to eat. Probably less to eat. No matter how much food was in front of him, he always ate like a starving child. Emma returned the half-read romance novel to its place and went back up the stairs, quiet as a mouse. She slipped into Henry's room and woke him gently.

"Time to get ready for school."

Henry blinked up at her in surprise, expecting Regina.

"Be quiet, though," Emma went on in a hushed tone when she knew he was awake. "I don't want your mom to wake up yet."

"But…?"

"I'm giving her a bit of a break." She smiled. "Besides, you get to have your favorite thing."

Henry looked confused.

"Cereal."

Henry's wide smile made one come to her face as well.

"That's right, kid. Now get dressed." Emma ruffled his hair affectionately. She stood up properly once more and left the room to give him his privacy. As she went back down the stairs she couldn't here a single sound coming from Henry's room. She thought to herself that his skills of sneaking out without being noticed were coming in handy. The kid could be a mime if he wanted to. She went into the kitchen as she waited for him, pulling out a box of cereal, a bowl, and a spoon as quietly as she could manage. She sat them all on a table in front of the chair Henry liked to sit in.

Just a couple minutes later Henry joined her in the kitchen. "So, what's the occasion?" he asked.

Emma shrugged. "I want to surprise her and you'd be bored to death so I'm waiting until you're at school to do it."

"Like Mother's Day?"

Emma smiled. "Yeah, kid. Like Mother's Day."

Once Henry filled his bowl as high as he wanted it, Emma opened the refrigerator and handed him the milk. Once he was done she returned it to the fridge and returned the cereal to the cupboard it came from.

In no time at all Henry was finished.

"Alright kid, you ready?" Emma asked as she watched him rinse out the bowl and put it in the sink along with the spoon.

Henry nodded and together they left the kitchen. Doors were shut quietly, the house was locked, and they were on their way.

Emma only started the drive back home once she saw Henry walk inside the building. She smiled to herself because the first few steps of her plan were already complete.

She stopped by a flower shop along the way; she couldn't help herself when she saw the deep red roses. The sign above them said they were thornless, and they really would make a decent touch. She paid for a dozen of them in a bouquet, which she then placed in the passenger seat of her bug before continuing the drive home.

When she returned, she placed the roses on the kitchen table, she dug out her white laptop from where it had been sitting doing nothing more than collecting dust. She also grabbed her iPod and the usb cable for it. She sat on the couch, opened the laptop as it sat on her lap, turned it on, plugged in the usb cable into both laptop and iPod, and turned the iPod on. She was grateful that neither made noise. She liked to keep her laptop muted when she used it, and her iPod simply didn't make noise once it was turned on. Not unless she told it to, anyway.

Emma typed in the wi-fi code, which she had been impressed to find when she first used her laptop after moving in. She supposed that any Mayor, from a place without internet or not, should know how to use it, and that included protected it from pesky internet 'borrowers' that mooched off unguarded wi-fi.

She brought up the internet to begin her research. She found a few songs, studied their lyrics over and over, and downloaded free MP3s of the songs to her iPod. She put the little headphone speakers in her ears and played the songs she just downloaded on repeat for quite a while, reading the lyrics as she did so, committing them to memory, and silently mouthing along.

Once she didn't have to read the lyrics anymore, Emma grinned. She was set now, and it was time for her surprise to be put in motion. She disconnected the iPod from her laptop, shut her laptop down, closed it, and returned it to where she'd got it. The iPod was fully charged now; she'd left it in as she practiced, which meant there was plenty of battery power for her plan to work.

After hunting down her iHome, Emma connected her iPod to it and plugged it in, setting it down on the floor by an arm of the couch. She cranked the volume up to 100% and after selecting the song she wanted, pressed play.

In her dreams, Regina saw nothing. Everything was black, and she couldn't even see her hands as she held them up in front of her face. It was the pitchest of black there was, and just as she was beginning to feel afraid, a singing voice boomed out of nowhere,

_"Baby I've been searching like everybody else, can't say nothing different about myself…"_

It was enough to wake her up. And as she sat up and bed, she realized that the ridiculously loud singing she'd heard in her dream wasn't just in her head, it was actually echoing around the house. Regina's eyes narrowed, "What the hell?" she muttered to herself.

"_Sometimes I'm an angel and sometimes I'm cruel, when it comes to love, I'm just another fool…"_

It took her a few seconds to figure out what it was. The spot beside her in bed was empty, so what she was hearing could only be music. She got out of bed with the intent to yell, because the music was _far _too loud. She could barely hear herself think. Regina stormed over to the landing, a few choice words in her head, but none of them made it out.

_"Yes, I'll climb a mountain, I'm gonna swim the sea, there ain't no act of God, girl  
could keep you safe from me…"_

What she saw beneath the landing warmed her heart and brought a smile to her face. Emma stood there, rose stem between her teeth, and holding a bouquet of eleven more roses up in her general direction. She cocked her head to the side, a clear indication for Regina to come downstairs.

_"My arms are reaching out, out across this canyon…"_

So Regina went down the stairs. Emma took the rose out of her mouth and held it out to Regina, who took it while being careful not to touch the part of the stem that had been in her mouth. "What's this?"

"It's a rose. Perhaps you've heard of them."

"Ha. Ha. I can see that. But why?"

In perfect time with the music, Emma sang along, _"I'm asking you to be my true_ _companion, true companion, true companion…" _Emma grinned and grabbed Regina's waist, pulling her close.

"Emma, what - ?"

_"So, don't you dare and try to walk away, I've got my heart set on our wedding day," _Emma continued.

Regina couldn't help but smile at the lyrics.

Emma tossed the bouquet over to the couch, and was a bit surprised the roses all stayed together and didn't fly out in all directions. _"I've got this vision of you girl in white,  
made my decision that it's you alright…" _Emma wrapped one arm around Regina's waist and took a hand with the other, entwining their fingers together.

The next thing Regina knew, she was being twirled around the room so fast she had to laugh. Emma just let the music do the talking as she focused on moving with the woman in her arms.

_"When I take your hand, I'll watch my heart set sail, I'll take my trembling fingers, and I'll lift up your veil…"_

When she started getting dizzy, Emma stopped moving them in circles and they just moved in side-steps back and forth, like a high school slow dance.

_"Then I'll take you home and with wild abandon…"_

Emma sang along with the next two lines, _"Make love to you just like a true companion,  
you are my true companion…" _She threw in a wink that made Regina laugh again.

_"I got a true companion, oh, true companion…"_

"What is this?" Regina asked again.

_"When the years have done irreparable harm, I can see us walking slowly arm in arm,  
just like that couple on the corner do, girl, I will always be in love with you…" _Emma refused to answer her straight until the song was over, and she knew there were only two more verses, which she sang along to as well, _"When I look in your eyes, I'll still see that spark, until the shadows fall, until the room grows dark… Then when I leave this Earth,  
I'll be with the angels standin', I'll be out there waitin' for my true companion, just for my true companion, true companion, true companion…"_

The song ended. Emma closed the distance and kissed Regina.

"This," Emma stated when the kiss had broken. "Is what happens when I get inspired." _  
_  
"You've never played music loud enough to wake the dead and danced with me before," Regina replied.

"Well, I figured it was time I start." Emma grinned.

"Where did you find such a perfect song?"

"The internet."  
_  
_Regina shook her head. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Ssh, another one's just about to start."

Four, five, six, seven more songs were danced to. Sometimes with one holding the other's waist while they wrapped their arms around their neck, sometimes with one wrapping their arms around the other's waist and resting their head on their shoulder, and sometimes they tried out various ballroom dances according to the tempo of the music. Tango, waltz, rumba, mambo, and Regina even taught Emma some that were from The Enchanted Forest.

"Well, it's nice to know you can dance," Regina stated. "But really, I think I'm half deaf, can we stop now? Or at least turn off that music?"

Emma went over to her iHome and turned the music off. The sudden silence made both of their ears ring. Emma picked up the roses from the couch. "Want to put these in a vase?"

Regina nodded. "Yeah." She rubbed one of her ears a little, as if that would make it stop ringing. She followed Emma into the kitchen to find a vase.

Regina didn't like the one Emma picked out. "Nah, that one's a bit too small. How about…" She went onto her toes so she could reach the one she wanted. "This one." It was a little wider than Emma's choice.

Emma shrugged. "Your flowers, your choice."

Regina filled the vase with water from the sink and Emma removed the roses from their bouquet and set them inside.

"I think we trampled the other one," Regina stated.

"Oh well. You've got eleven more."

"Thank you, by the way. This was very nice." She kissed her lovingly.

"You're welcome." Emma held her close, kissing the side of her head. "I wanted to surprise you."

"Well then, color me surprised." Regina let her hold her for a few moments before drawing away. "But now we face the consequences of doing all that dancing before breakfast." Her stomach growled as if to prove her point.

"Well, see, maybe now I'll have enough room to actually finish your three course idea of breakfast," Emma half-teased.

Regina's stomach grumbled again. "I don't think I can wait that long." She went over to the fridge and pulled it open. She opened one of the drawers inside and pulled out string cheese.

Emma gaped. "We have string cheese? Why did no one tell me we have string cheese? And seriously, _you_ think string cheese is going to tide you over?"

"It'll keep it at bay." She took two of the cheese sticks from the pack and started to put it away, but Emma stopped her,

"Hey!"

Regina looked over her shoulder. "Yes?"

"I want some!"

Regina turned back and pulled two more from the bag, tossing them over to her. "There."

"_Thank _you." Emma caught them and started unwrapping one right away.

Regina finished what she was doing and continued looking at the contents of their fridge. "We also have mandarin oranges."

A strangled noise came out of Emma's throat. "Why does no one _tell _me these things?"

"You have eyes, dear," Regina replied. "They're not exactly being hidden from you."

"Anything else _not _hiding in there?"

"Uh… Yogurt."

"Gimme!"

"So demanding, Miss Swan." Regina grabbed a random container of yogurt and tossed it in Emma's general direction. "Anything else, Your Highness?"

"Nope, I'm good. Breakfast of champions."

Regina shut the door after grabbing some yogurt for herself and mandarin oranges for the both of them. "Really?" she asked as she turned to face her. "String cheese, mandarin oranges, and yogurt? That's your idea of the breakfast of champions?"

"Well, it's breakfast, and I'm the Savior, right? Aren't saviors kind of champions? Therefore: breakfast of champions."

"So clever, you are," her tone was dripping in sarcasm.

"And that's why you love me," Emma replied with a decisive nod.


	8. Chapter 8

Regina bolted upright in bed, gasping awake from her nightmare. Her eyes immediately sought out the form of Emma, right beside her. "Emma!" When she got no response, she rose her voice, shaking her roughly. "Emma!"

Emma rolled onto her back, groaning sleepily. "What? Where's the fire?" She'd only managed to sit up halfway when Regina lunged at her, arms wrapping around her in a vise grip. "O-Okay, what the hell, Regina?" She felt the same crushing strength she'd felt when Regina had gripped her hand during her hangover from hell. Only this time it was the force of two arms instead of one hand, so tight that it felt like they were just bone, digging into her middle. Emma was sure her intestines would try to find an escape route under all that pressure. Any sleepiness that had lingered behind was well and truly banished. "Regina, that really hurts," she gasped out.

Regina relaxed her grip a little, but her arms were still tightly wrapped around her with the strength of a boa constrictor.

Emma stroked her hair. "What's the matter, baby?" she murmured. "Talk to me."

"It was awful!"

Emma could tell by the strain in Regina's voice that she was crying.

Regina lifted her head up so she could see Emma's face. "It was another crash, o-only this time I was there, too a-a-and y-you were pinned a-and…" Her face crumpled and she broke down again.

"It was just a dream," Emma soothed. "Just a dream." She held her and rubbed her back, rocking her gently in her arms. "I'm right here, baby."

"But it wasn't!" Regina wailed. "You almost –"

"But I didn't." Emma pressed a kiss to Regina's wet cheek. "Just calm down and breathe. You don't want to wake Henry, do you?"

Regina did her best to regain her composure. She couldn't let Henry see her like this. Not ever.

"You can let go of me now, you know," Emma murmured.

Regina shook her head. "No. I'm never letting you go." The sentiment wasn't lost on Emma.

"I only meant physically," she replied gently.

Regina was still reluctant to do so, but after several more minutes she relented.

"Okay, there we go." Emma smoothed out Regina's hair. "Come on." She sat up fully and started to get off the bed, offering Regina her hand.

Regina opened her mouth to question, but Emma went on,

"Let's get you something to calm your nerves."

Regina took the offered hand, sliding out of bed. She let Emma wrap an arm around her waist and she leaned against her slightly, needing to be close to her.

Side by side, Emma led her down the stairs, not stopping until they were in the kitchen. Then she pulled out one of the chairs by the table, gently forcing Regina to sit in it. She opened the drawer that was full of K-Cups and grabbed a hot chocolate one, putting it into the Keurig. She grabbed a mug from a cabinet and placed it in the designated spot, choosing the size option on the Keurig and then pressing the brew button. She watched as the machine compressed the powder, mixing it with water and producing a steady steam of hot chocolate, quickly filling the mug. It only took about ten seconds before the water went clear and spluttered with its last few drops. The display on the machine switched from, 'BREWING' to 'READY'. She removed the empty K-Cup and threw it away before taking the mug and placing it down on the table in front of Regina.

"I figured this was less childish than warm milk," she said in response to the look Regina gave her. "And coffee would just wake you up. You don't need to be wide awake at…" She glanced at a clock. "Three in the morning."

"Maybe I don't want to go back to sleep."

"It may be Saturday and you may not have to be awake as early as during the week, but if you don't go back to sleep soon you'll be asleep before dinner."

As much as she didn't want to admit it, Emma was right. So Regina turned her gaze down to the steaming mug in front of her and wrapped her hand around the handle, raising it to her lips and taking a careful sip. She smiled after she swallowed. "It's dark."

"Of course it's dark. I may not have you figured out a hundred percent, but I do know most of the basics. If you can't have hot white chocolate you'll take hot dark chocolate. The milk is mostly here for Henry. I prefer my hot chocolate from Granny's. There are no K-Cups for hot chocolate laced with cinnamon."

Regina shook her head, a small smile on her lips. "Well, listen to you, being all fiancée of the year."

"Thanks… I think." Emma sat down in the chair beside her. "I'm glad you're feeling better." She rested a hand on Regina's thigh, not tempting or wandering, just resting.

"Thanks to you," Regina murmured. She leaned forward to place a gentle kiss to her lips. Emma could taste the remnants of the hot chocolate on them.

"Maybe we should invest in a dream catcher or something," Emma stated as they broke apart. "I don't like it when you cry, and more than that, you shouldn't have to."

"Emma…" She brought up a hand to rest against her cheek. Yes, there was a reason why she was marrying her. Multiple, actually. And more just kept getting piled onto the list.

Emma just gave her a smile. They didn't need more words in that moment.

They stayed like that for a few moments, lost in each other's eyes until Emma gave Regina's thigh a gentle pat. "Finish your hot chocolate before it gets cold, then we'll go back to bed."

Regina nodded. "Okay." She took her hand back and picked the mug up once again. She could drink it now without it burning her tongue on the way down.

It was around three fifteen when they made it back to bed. Emma drew Regina close under the blankets. "Let's keep those bad dreams at bay." She kissed her softly, and Regina never felt more safe than she felt in her arms. Her eyes slid shut and she returned the kiss, feeling that Emma was very much alive, letting it wash over her in waves.

The kiss lingered for a few moments before Regina curled herself up further in Emma's arms. She yawned, the affects of the hot chocolate beginning to serve their purpose. She thought of happier things, like their upcoming wedding day, in hopes to replace the nightmares with dreams based on those thoughts instead.


	9. Chapter 9

"I don't like this," Regina stated as she leaned against the doorframe, watching Emma move around the room as she packed.

Emma paused. "I know. But I made a deal and after this I won't owe anyone any more favors." She pushed the last of the clothes into the large black suitcase and zipped it up. "He wanted to leave yesterday. I don't know how he knew I was picking Henry up from Mary Margaret's, but he did. He wanted to leave right that minute. I bought us a day."

"'Us'?" Regina questioned.

"Yeah, us. You and me, Regina. I wasn't going to leave without telling you."

"Oh." Regina felt a bit stupid then. That much should have been obvious. She'd been trying to stop the internal battle occurring inside her head, however, so she was only half paying attention. She finally made up her mind. "Take Henry with you."

Emma lifted the suitcase from the bed, letting it thud against the floor beside her as she set it down. "What?" She was looking at her as if she'd grown two extra heads.

"I don't want you to be alone with him," Regina explained. "Henry's the only one who can leave."

"_You _can leave," Emma reminded her.

"Yes, but I don't want to be anywhere near him. I just don't. So take Henry with you."

"You're going to trust him around Henry?"

"I don't _trust _him around anyone," Regina corrected. "But I trust you with Henry. And though Gold may be a lot of things, an idiot isn't one of them. He knows better than to hurt our son if he expects your help finding his."

Emma couldn't argue that logic. "You know, it's just not fair that you get the brains _and _the beauty."

Her comment caused the first smile on Regina's face that she'd seen since she told her that Gold had decided to cash in on her owed favor.

"Go," Regina told her good-naturedly. "Before you're late."

"Kid!" Emma called, making Regina wince at the sudden loudness of her voice.

Henry came to the doorway, poking his head around Regina's waist. "Yeah?"

"Change of plans, you're coming with. Pack your bag."

"But…" Henry looked up at Regina with questioning eyes.

Regina placed a gentle hand on his head. "It's okay, do what she says." Henry opened his mouth to protest again, but Regina cut him off, "I'll be fine. Hurry up, now."

Henry disappeared from the doorway to do as he was told.

"I don't think he wants to go, Regina," Emma said softly.

"Yeah, well, I don't want _you _to go, but we don't always get what we want, do we?"

Emma walked over to her and wrapped her arms around her. "I will call you every day," she promised. "Henry too." She kissed her, meaning for it to be short and gentle, but Regina made it long and passionate, with a little desperation. When it finally broke, Emma's breath was heavy. She raised a hand to Regina's cheek, cupping it. "Hey, I won't be gone forever." She stroked the area just under her eye with her thumb.

"I know," it was a broken whisper that made Emma wonder if she really _did _know.

Emma hugged her tightly. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

They stayed like that for a few long moments until the sound of a small voice clearing came from behind Regina.

"Go," Regina repeated, moving out of the doorway.

Emma went back to where she'd left the suitcase and grabbed the handle. She paused in her tracks when Henry blocked her path, running up to Regina and hugging her.

Regina gained a soft smile. She lowered her head to kiss the top of his. "You have fun."

"Fun?" Henry echoed with doubt in his voice.

"It's New York, Henry. You'll have fun."

"Okay…" he still didn't sound like he believed her.

"Henry, we need to go," Emma told him gently.

Henry reluctantly let go of Regina and made his way to the stairs.

"Be careful," Regina stated as Emma passed her.

"I will," Emma assured her. She followed Henry to the stairs and they descended them together.

When she opened the door, Gold was right there on the porch, which Emma thought was super creepy and made her wonder if he was stalking her.

"Ready to go, Miss Swan?"

"Almost." They were ready, she just needed some time to process that he'd been waiting for them.

"Do you think we'll be cold where we're going, or warm?" Henry asked.

Emma pulled herself out of her thoughts long enough to answer Henry's question, "I think layers are always a good idea."

"I thought the terms of our agreement were quite clear. You owe me a favor – you alone," Gold stated.

"I'm not leaving Henry here, so either we both go, or we both stay." Emma wasn't about to tell him that Henry was coming along at Regina's insistence.

"Then, we'll have to purchase another plane ticket, won't we?"

"Wait. We're flying?" Emma wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but it wasn't that.

"Don't worry, I'm covering expenses. Even the new ones."

Emma couldn't help it. "You're a real gentleman, aren't you?" she asked, voice full of sarcasm.

Soon after she and Henry were led to the car parked in front of the manor, presumably Gold's. Emma wondered how she hadn't seen it before Gold brought attention to it. Once they were all inside and buckled in, Gold placed his enchanted shawl around his neck before beginning to drive. Emma was in the passenger seat, Henry in the backseat, their bags in the trunk.

After a few minutes of silence, Henry asked, "So… Where are we going?" He knew Regina said New York, but he wanted to know where in New York.

"Logan International Airport," was Gold's answer.

"I think he meant after that," Emma replied.

"Let's just take things one step at a time, shall we?" Gold asked.

"You really think that shawl's going to work?" Emma responded with a question of her own.

"Well, if it doesn't, and I revert to my cursed self, we're all going to have some problems. It'll work."

Just seconds later, they passed the sign that read, 'Leaving Storybrooke'. A visible wave of magic passes over Gold. There was a moment of silence as both Emma and Henry watched.

"So?" Emma broke the silence.

"My name is Rumpelstiltskin. And we're going find my son."

Emma's phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that she had a text message from Regina. She opened it to find two words glaring up at her: _Cora's here. _"What?" Emma muttered under her breath. Her fingers tapped out a hasty reply: _How do you know? _A handful of seconds later the reply came: _She just materialized in our bedroom. _Suddenly Emma was glad that Regina made her take Henry with her. Her heart thudded in her chest as she typed out one more message: _Be careful. _She never got a reply.

The airport that gold had taken them to was in Boston. It was easy for Emma not to be overwhelmed with memories from her time there, because she was worried about Regina. She knew that her mother was not only the worst mother of any year, but quite possibly the worst human being, too. She would dig her claws where she knew it hurt, and she hoped Regina could hide just how much them being together had melted her. For once, Emma wanted her to act exactly like the Evil Queen.

Emma didn't even remember moving from the desk where they picked up their boarding passes to the security line.

"Have you ever been outside of Storybrooke before, Mr. Gold?" Henry asked.

"No."

"Are you nervous?"

"No."

"Are you worried about meeting your son?"

"No, Henry, I'm fine."

Emma decided it was time to cut in, "How about we talk about all this later, kid? We're next." She and Henry took off their shoes and put them in the boxes. Still, Henry went on,

"It must be really hard not to use magic – being like everyone else."

"You've got to put your shoes in," Emma told Gold.

"How terribly uncivilized," Gold commented. Still, he took off his shoes as Henry went through the metal detector.

"Uh, scarf and the cane go in the basket." The security agent stopped him from passing through.

"What?"

"Scarf and cane go in the basket," the man repeated.

"I can't."

"You have to," Emma spoke from behind him.

Some man from behind them who was impatient decided to speak his mind, "It ain't rocket science, buddy. You ever been on a plane before?"

"Have you ever been impaled upon a cane before?" Gold shot back.

Emma had to break it up, "My… Father's a little nervous. We're headed to a family reunion. Sorry."

"Father?" Gold questioned.

"Just put your shawl in the bin," Emma told him. "I'll help you get through."

"If I let this go, I could forget who I am."

"I'm not going to let that happen."

"Okay." Gold took shawl off and put it in the box with his cane. When he did, his hearing became distorted and he stumbled. He went through the metal detector in almost a trace-like state, until Emma had a chance to grab his shawl out of the box on the other side of security. She put it around his neck and his hearing and mind go back to normal. Gold gave a slight nod and the two of them began to put their shoes back on.

Henry was there waiting for them. "Guys, there's a Cinnabon's here!"

Later, Emma, Gold and Henry are waiting by their gate. Gold paced back and forth, unable to keep still in front of the line of chairs Emma and Henry were sitting in.

"Do you want something to eat?" Emma ventured.

"No."

"Is something wrong?"

"Stop asking me that! I'll be right back." Gold went off to the public bathroom for men.

Once inside, he stopped and stared into the mirror for a few moments before he entered a stall, locking the door behind him. He doesn't know what just yet, but Emma was right. Something was wrong. He continued to pace, then suddenly dropped his cane and started violently punching the toilet seat cover dispenser on the wall. Once he stopped, he looked down at his bloodied hand. He waved his other hand over the wounds, intending to heal them with magic, but nothing happened. He tried it again, and nothing happened again.

Henry opened the door to the bathroom and poked his head inside. "Mr. Gold? Mr. Gold. We're boarding soon. Are you coming?"

Finally, Emma, Henry, and Gold board the plane and wait for takeoff. Henry held a box of cinnamon rolls on his lap, courtesy of Emma.

"You good, kid?" Emma asked.

"You kidding? A trip with you, first plane ride, and we're going on a quest like in the book. The only thing that could make this day better? Is more frosting."

Emma looked down and noticed Gold's bandaged hand. "It's going to be alright. We're going to find your son," she assured him.

"I know."

The takeoff announcement stated, "Welcome, folks, to Ajira Airlines regional flight fifty-three, with non-stop service to New York City. Our flight time tonight is forty-two minutes. Please sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride."

Emma sighed, but it could hardly be heard over the starting of the plane engines. Forty-two minutes where her cell service would be cut off. Forty-two minutes where she wouldn't be able to contact Regina. As her thoughts consumed her, she was unaware that Gold was also staring straight ahead with a blank face.

When they landed, one of the first things Emma did was check her phone. Nothing from Regina. Emma bit her lip and typed a quick text: _You okay?_

The answer didn't come until much later when she, along with Gold and Henry, were in a taxi on their way to where Gold believed the apartment his son was living in was. The answer was short, one word: _Yes._

It should have made Emma feel better, but all it did was heighten her anxiety. _Cora's not leaving, is she? _

The taxi stopped and the three of them stepped out. Gold has this look on his face that made Emma ask,

"What's wrong? This the right place?"

"Yes, it is."

Emma's phone buzzed in her hands. The answer: _No. _She pocketed her phone. She couldn't deal with everything all at once. "Let me guess. He's not expecting you. Well, who doesn't love a surprise?" There was a certain irony to her words. Here, a father was unexpectedly showing up at his son's home. Back in Storybrooke, a mother had unexpectedly materialized in her daughter's bedroom.

In Storybrooke, Hook also showed up at the mansion. Regina supposed this was her past catching up with her. It was concerning that both her mother and Hook were now in her home, considering she'd attempted to have Hook kill her before. Neither of them had expected that the woman had removed her own heart. Though that would certainly explain a lot about Regina's childhood. She hid her phone in her back pocket. She was going to have to play pretend. She was going to have to play pretend a lot. She might even find herself doing things she'd told herself she never would again.

"What is it, sweetie?" Cora asked.

Regina was quick to think on her feet. Something on her face must have showed, but she lied to cover it up, "It's Henry. Emma left town with Gold, and she took him with her." Well, that wasn't particularly a lie, it was just a misplaced truth.

"And you didn't stop them?"

"I didn't know until after they had gone." _That _was a lie.

"I'm sure he's safe. And, as soon as Gold's done, Henry will be back."

"But not with me." Another necessary lie.

"Back? From where? Where's Rumpelstiltskin gone?" That was Hook.

"I don't know." Regina was slipping into the ease of lying once more. It bothered her how easy it had gotten, how easy it was after all this time.

"Well, if he's left town, then he's powerless. He can be killed." Hook was still out for revenge, it seemed.

A lot was piling up on Regina's plate rather quickly. She was surprised her mother had yet to notice the purple ring resting on her finger. But then, she supposed, Cora had other things on her mind.

"The moment either of us leave, we lose our magic… and our advantage," Cora commented. She didn't know that Regina could leave if she chose to.

That would be ideal for Regina, to be able to leave at this point in time, but she knew she couldn't. She had to act her way through this, or her mother would be so suspicious that Storybrooke would never be safe to return to.

"Your memories?" Hook asked.

"None of us were victims of the curse," Regina responded. "It's not about memories – it's about magic."

"Well, I don't need magic. I'll go after him alone."

"Even if you could find him, do you really think you can just walk up to him and stab him in the heart with your sword?"

"Well, I prefer my hook, but I can't find that now."

"You're not going anywhere," Cora stated.

"I deserve my vengeance!"

"You're right. You're right, you do. And, with The Dark One gone, we can search for the one magical item that can actually kill him here… his dagger."

Regina wanted to just drop her face into her hands and hide away from everything. This was not something she wanted to take part in, but she knew she had no choice.

In New York, the trio entered the lobby of the apartment building. Henry scanned the list of names on the intercom. "No 'Baelfire'."

"Yeah, that probably wouldn't fly as an alias," Emma replied. "Your magic globe didn't give you an apartment number?"

"It doesn't work that way," Gold answered.

Both Emma and Gold take their turns looking at the list.

"Do any of these names mean anything to you?" Emma asked.

"Well, names are what I traffic in, but sadly, no."

Emma pointed to an apartment that is listed only by number. "Here's your boy."

"Or, it could just be vacant."

"You might traffic in names and magic, but I traffic in finding people who don't want to be found. And those sort of folks don't like to advertise their whereabouts." She pressed the button next to the entry for the intercom. "U.P.S. package for four-oh-seven."

The person on the other end of the line didn't respond, and then hung up.

"Maybe you should've said FedEx," Henry suggested.

Suddenly, they heard a noise coming from the fire escape outside.

"He's running," Emma stated.

The three of them rushed outside, where they saw the apartment's occupant climbing down the fire escape. He reached the bottom and breaks into a run.

"That…" Gold began. "That favor you owe me – this is it. Get him to talk to me. I… I can't run."

"Watch Henry. I'll be back." Emma chased the man through the New York streets, stalling traffic along the way. She ran around the opposite side of the building and managed to ambush the man as the two meet. She tackled him, and the two of them fall to the ground. When Emma looked up, a stunned look appears on her face. She recognized him. "No… Neal?"

"Emma?" he asked.

"Neal?" she repeated.

They stood up.

"I don't understand. What are you doing here?"

"What am_ I_ doing here?"

"Yeah."

Oh, this was just too much. Emma desperately wanted to tell Regina what just happened, who she'd just, quite literally, ran into. But she knew she couldn't. Not yet. They were both a bit wrapped up. "I'm not answering anything until you tell me the truth. Are you Gold's son?" Was this man, Henry's father, the son of Rumpelstiltskin?

"What are you talking about? Who's Gold?"

"You played me. You're from there. You played me, and he played me, you both played me."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay."

"You and Gold." Emma was beginning to freak out.

"Emma, slow down. What are you talking about? Who's Gold?"

"Your father. Rumpelstiltskin."

"He's here?"

"Why else would I be in New York?"

"You brought him to me? Why would you do that?!" He thought he had the right to be angry.

"Hey! I am the only one allowed to be angry here! Did you know who I was, where I was from, the whole time? Was this just some sort of sick, twisted plan? Did… Did you even care about me at all?" Even though she had Regina now, she had to know. She mothered his _son _for crying out loud. He'd damn well better have cared about her, at least a little bit.

"Emma, do not…"

"I want to know! I want the truth – all of it!"

"Fine! We… We got to get off the street. We can't do it here. We're out in the open. I… I spent a lifetime running from that man. I'm not going to let him catch me. There's a bar down the street. We can talk there."

"I am not drinking with you. Whatever you're going to tell me, tell me now."

" No, bar's better. Don't worry. You can keep yelling at me when we get there." Neal, or better yet Baelfire, began to walk off.

Emma, annoyed among other emotions, followed him.

The bar wasn't too far away, so they arrive within minutes. As they sat, Neal asked, "Well, what do you want to know, Emma? You want the truth? Ask away."

"Did you know who I was when we met?" Emma asked.

"If I had, I wouldn't have gone near you."

"Come on." Emma wanted answers, not vague insults.

"Come on? Come on, what? I was in hiding. I came here to get… a-away from… all that crap."

"So, if you didn't know, then you were just using me. You just needed someone to take the fall for all the watches that you stole."

"I wasn't using you. When we met, I didn't know. I found out."

"How?"

"When I went to sell the watches… I ran into a friend of yours. August."

"You left me… And let me go to prison, because Pinocchio told you to?" That was ridiculous as anything she'd ever heard.

"Emma…"

"I loved you." She had. She was long past over him, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

"I… I was, um… I was… I was trying to help you."

"By letting me go to jail?"

"By getting you home."

"Are you telling me, that us meeting was a coincidence? Because how the hell did that happen? If it wasn't in your plan, or your father's?"

"Think about it. He wanted you to break the curse. Us meeting – that could have stopped it. Maybe it was fate."

"You believe in that?" Fate. It was such an offensive word. Fate meant that your choices weren't really your own, it meant they had already been mapped out for you to take.

"You know, there's not a ton about my father that I remember that doesn't suck. But he used to tell me that there are no coincidences. Everything that happens, happens by design, and there's nothing we can do about it. Forces greater than us conspire to make it happen. Fate, destiny, whatever you want to call it. The point is… Maybe we met for a reason. Maybe something good came from us being together."

"No. Not that I can think of." Just Henry. But he _so _didn't have the right to know about him. He gave up the right to be a parent a long time ago. Emma and Regina were Henry's parents and it would remain that way. "I just went to jail. That's it. Doesn't matter now. I'm over it. And you."

"Why do you wear the, uh, key chain I got you?"

It served as a reminder for Emma not to be so stupid again. She supposed she no longer had use of it. She took off the necklace and placed it on the counter in front of Neal. "To remind myself never to trust someone again." Now that she trusted Regina, it was almost hypocritical to keep wearing it. "Come on. I made a deal with your father I'd bring you to him."

"You made a deal with him?"

"Yeah. And I'm upholding my end."

"No, Emma, you don't have to. You know that."

"I know." The thing was that she wanted to. Especially since she got that text from Regina saying that Cora was in Storybrooke.

"Okay, so this should be really easy for you. Tell him that you lost me. Tell him you can't find me. You do that; you'll never have to see me again."

Emma was pretty sure she didn't _want _to see him again anyway.

Later, Emma called her mother, because she knew she couldn't call Regina. She was still mad at her for freaking out about her engagement to Regina, but they had bigger things to worry about now.

"Wait. Gold's son is Henry's father?" Snow asked.

"I know. I know. And the millions of questions you have, I have, too. The problem is, it doesn't matter right now because I don't know what to do." She didn't know what to do about being reunited with Henry's father, or about Gold being Henry's grandfather, or about Cora being in Storybrooke.

"Please tell me you're not calling to ask me to tell you to keep it from him."

"Henry thinks his father is dead. I told him that for a reason. I want to protect him."

"No matter what this man did, Henry has a right to know who his father is. The truth about your parents… Emma, you of all people should know how important that is."

"I don't want Henry to get hurt. I just want to protect him."

"Are you sure this is about protecting Henry, and not yourself?"

After Emma told Gold that his son got away, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. The message, always from Regina, read: _You won't like what I have to do._

Emma's brow furrowed as she returned the text: _What do you have to do?_

A few moments later, a new message: _I have to be HER again._

Emma frowned. Her reply was: _Pretending though, right?_

The next reply took a bit longer to arrive: _As much as it takes to be convincing. Lying with words won't be enough. Just know that I don't want to do this, that I hate the fact that I have to. I don't know exactly what yet, but I know I'll have to do bad things. I may even have to hurt people. I have to play along. I can't let her catch on to anything; I have to make her think I'm on her side._

Emma had worried that would happen. She fought with herself mentally but finally decided to send: _Do what you have to do. All I ask is that you don't allow yourself to be sucked in. Don't give in to your lust for power. I don't want you to be destroyed when we come back. I love you._

Shortly, the text came back: _I'll do my best. I love you, too._

Regina took in a deep breath as she walked into the hospital. It was still difficult for her to be there. What she was there for was nagging at her conscience, but it had to be done. Emma had told her to do what she had to do and now she was going to do it. She made her way to Belle's, or she supposed it was Lacey again, room.

"Who are you?" Belle asked from the bed.

"So it is true. You really don't remember anything."

"Are we friends?"

"We spent some time together. But I'm here because I believe you can help me find something that belongs to Rumpelstiltskin."

"W-who?"

"Mr. Gold."

"I, uh… I-I don't know him."

Regina did her best to keep a straight face as she magically knocked Belle unconscious. "Don't hate me Emma," she murmured to herself before addressing the now unconscious woman, "Not anymore. But you did."

Regina magically opened Belle's purse, causing all of its contents to float through the air. The object of interest is a piece of paper, which Regina levitated towards her. She took said paper and examined it. It had the number 915.63 written on it.

Later that night, Cora, Regina, and Hook were at the town library. Regina scanned the shelves of books for the number on the paper.

"Shouldn't we be pillaging his shop or ransacking his home?" Hook asked.

"That would be the obvious choice, yes. But Gold wouldn't risk crossing the town line and losing his memory without entrusting the dagger's location to someone," Cora replied.

"Belle," Hook realized.

"My guess, is she hid it in one of her beloved books," Regina stated.

"Impressive, Regina," Cora praised.

Regina couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit of warmth at hearing praise from her mother. "Thank you, Mother."

"I'll be impressed when I'm holding the dagger in my hand," Hook stated with an attitude.

Regina founds the correct spot, but there was no book, just an empty space. She was secretly relieved. She feigned disappointment, "No. It should be here."

"Well, it's not, is it? May we go now?" Hook asked impatiently.

"Hold on," Cora spoke. She stuck her hand in the space between the books and found a folded piece of paper. "What's this?" She unfolded the paper.

"Oh, yes," Hook was now pleased. "Crude. To the untrained eye, a child's scribbles, but to a pirate… It's a map. Gold may not have hidden the dagger here, but I believe he's left us the next best thing – its location."

"Can you read it?" Cora asked.

"Well, lucky for you ladies, I'm quite adept at finding buried treasure."

Snow and Charming were piecing together the very odd and ever growing family unit in their kitchen.

"So Rumpelstiltskin is Henry's grandfather?" Charming asked.

"Apparently."

"But _I'm_ his grandfather."

"You can have more than one."

"So his…step-grandmother is Regina, the Evil Queen."

"Actually, his step-great-grandmother. And she's also his adoptive mother. And," she admitted the last in a bit of a grumble. "Emma's fiancée."

"It's a good thing we don't have Thanksgiving in our land, cause that dinner would suck."

Despite herself, Snow replied, "Or, maybe this will mellow everyone out."

Emma found herself in the lobby of the apartment once again with Gold and Henry.

He hit all of the intercom buttons.

"Gold, wait. What are you doing?"

Someone responded to the buzzer and unlocked the front door.

"I'm finding my son," he answered.

"He's gone," it was neither lie nor truth.

"But he lives here. He'll be back, and I'll be waiting."

They soon arrived at the door of Neal's apartment. Gold started to pick the lock

"Stop," Emma told him. "You can't just break in."

"Yeah, well, actually, that's something I'm quite adept at."

"He might not come back."

"Okay. Finding people is what you do, Miss Swan. I'm simply going to assist you. There may be information in here. Who he is, what he does, who he loves."

"No, don't do this. There are things called laws."

"I'll be lookout," Henry volunteered.

"No," Emma protested. "I… You could get arrested."

"Then my son will have to testify against me, and we will be reunited." He successfully picked the lock and opened the door. The trio entered Neal's apartment after Gold's successful break in.

"Gold. Come on, please," Emma begged. "We really shouldn't be here."

"I don't think he's listening," Henry replied helpfully. He joined Gold's investigation of the apartment. Emma spotted the same dream catcher that was from her and Neal's past hanging in the window. She walked over to it and took it down, staring at it.

Gold noticed her interest. "You find something, dearie?"

"Nothing. Uh, it just looks like a dream catcher."

"Yeah, well, if it's nothing, why are you still holding it?" Gold questioned. "You're lying to me."

"Just get back to looking, okay?"

"No, no, no. You saw something. Tell me."

"You don't know what you're talk-"

"Tell me!"

"Henry, go wait in the bathroom."

"But I can help-"

"Henry, go!"

Henry left, leaving the two of them alone.

"There's nothing here," Emma told him. "The guy's a ghost."

"Well, you think me a fool? You're holding back. I want to know what, and why."

"I'm not holding back."

"Did he tell you something?"

"Gold-"

"Did he tell you something?!"

"Nothing. He didn't say anything."

"But you talked to-"

"Don't put words in my mouth-"

"Tell me! You tell me, or I'm going to make you tell me."

"You don't have magic here."

"Oh, I don't need magic."

"You really want to do this?"

"Do not push me."

"Don't push _me_."

"We had a deal! A deal! No one! No one breaks deals with me!"

Neal barged into the apartment, interrupting the fight. "Hey! Leave her alone."

"Bae… You came back for me."

"No. I came to make sure you didn't hurt her. I've seen what you do to people who break deals."

"Please, Bae, just let me talk."

"I have no interest in talking to you. You can go."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Get out of my apartment!"

"Neal…" Emma warned.

"Emma, I got this."

"You two know each other…" Gold realized. "You two know each other. How?"

"You sent me chasing after him," Emma answered.

"No, no, no. Stop it! You're lying. How do you two know each other?!"

Henry heard what was going on from the bathroom. He made a reappearance in the living room. "Mom? W-what's going on?"

"Hey…" Emma started.

"Who's this?" Neal asked.

"My son."

"What?"

"Is that Baelfire?" Henry asked.

"I need you to stay in the other room for a little while longer, okay?" Emma told Henry. "Come on." She tried to lead Henry out of the room.

"Wait. H-how old are you?" Neal asked.

"Don't answer him," Emma told Henry.

"How old are you, kid?!" Neal repeated.

"Eleven!" Henry shouted. "Now, why is everyone yelling?"

"He's eleven?" Neal asked in realization.

"Mom?" Henry asked.

"Is this my son?"

"No," Henry answered. "My dad was a fireman. He… he died." He looked to Emma. "That's what you told me. You said…"

"Is this… my son?" Neal repeated.

"Yes…" Emma admits.

Neal was shocked. Henry backed away from Emma, and then went through the window leading to the fire escape. There was a brief pause, then Emma followed Henry.

"Henry. Henry?" Emma crawled through the window, leaving Neal and Gold alone.

Neal went to follow Henry and Emma, but Gold stopped him. "Baelfire…"

Neal shrugged his hand off of his shoulder.

"Please, please. All I want is a chance to be heard."

"Get out."

"Look, you came back to protect Emma. To show that she had lived up to her end of her bargain with me."

"And now she has. You can go."

"No. Our deal was for her to get you to talk to me. If you truly want her deal to be fulfilled, you have but one choice. You have to talk to me."

"You got three minutes."

Back in Storybrooke, Regina, Hook, and Cora were still at the library. Hook finished interpreting the map. "I give you the location of the dagger."

"Well done, Hook," Cora congratulated. "We'll take it from here." She snatched the map off of the table and she and Regina began to leave.

"No. You promised me!" When Hook tried to confront them, Cora magically blasted Hook back into a bookshelf, knocking him unconscious.

"The kris dagger's much too powerful to be wasted on you," Cora stated.

"So… Is… this what it was all about? Getting Rumpel's dagger so you could obtain his dark powers?" Regina wouldn't have expected otherwise.

"If we possess the dagger, we control the Dark One. And when he returns to Storybrooke, we can command him to kill Snow White, Prince Charming, and Emma. Our enemies will be vanquished, and you, will be blameless in the eyes of the only person who matters."

"Henry," Regina replied. She knew though there was no way in hell that she'd be letting anyone near Emma.

Emma found Henry at the top of the fire escape.

"So, that's him," Henry stated.

Emma knew what he was referring to. "Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I never thought I would see him again. I never wanted to."

"Why not?

"For one thing, I have Regina. For another, he was a thief, Henry. A liar, a bad guy, and he… he broke my heart."

"I could have taken it, you know. The truth."

"I know. He was just a part of my life I wanted to forget. That's why I didn't tell you. I was thinking of me, not you."

"I thought you were different, but you're just like her. Just like she used to be. She always lied to me, too."

"I'm sorry…"

"I want to meet my dad."

Emma crawled back into Neal's apartment through the window, while Henry waited outside on the fire escape. Neal was waiting. "He wants to meet you."

"You weren't going to tell me about him."

"No, I wasn't."

"Yeah, well, he's my kid, too, so you don't get to make that decision by yourself anymore."

"Great. Go talk to him, then. But… don't break his heart."

"Trust me – I'm not going do to him what _he _did to me."

"Or what you did to me."

"Okay. I get it. We're all messed up. What do you say we try to avoid that with him? Alright?"

"Alright."

Neal crawled out onto the fire escape to join Henry.

"So… you're my dad."

"Yeah."

"I'm Henry."

"It's nice to meet you, Henry. Sorry I took so long."

"It's okay. You didn't know."

While Henry and Neal talked outside, Gold walked past the window. He stopped and watched them.

While Regina and Cora are in the woods, they had no idea Snow had found them and was watching as Regina dug a hole while Cora stood off to the side.

"And you're sure this is where we're supposed to dig?" Cora asked.

Regina consulted the map. " Yes. Hook marked it clearly. Rumpelstiltskin's dagger is here."

"Unless, Hook lied to us."

Regina hoped that he had. "Well, then this map is useless. Gold is the only one who can translate it."

"Oh, don't worry, sweetheart. Hook could've saved us a lot of effort with honesty, but, the truth is, we don't need anyone. I can reconstruct the map. It'll just take a bit more time. And when we find it, I promise you, I'll use that dagger to force the Dark One to kill anyone you like."

In New York, Neal, Henry, Emma, and Gold walked down a street. Neal and Henry were talking, while Emma and Gold trailed behind them.

"So, uh… You like pizza?" Neal asked.

"Yeah. Let me guess – you're going to tell me the best pizza's in New York, and I got to try it, right?"

"Actually, it's in the Kingdom of Damarian on the north shore of the Dragon Fields of Zorn. Nah, it's in New York. Here, let's get you a slice."

"So you're really from there?"

"Yeah, I am."

The two of them entered the pizza shop. Emma and Gold stood outside.

"Do you think that we should…?" Emma trailed off.

"If we were welcome, I feel confident an invitation would have been extended. It's a sad truth that the people closest to us are the ones capable of causing us the most pain. That's our common ground, Miss Swan."

"Guess my lying to him just caught up with me."

"Ah, give him time. He'll forgive you."

"Is that you projecting your own hopes?"

"My son and I have some way to go."

"I can see that."

"I need you to speak to him. Try and convince him to come back to Storybrooke with us."

"If I recall, there was only one favor I owed you, and I think I'm paid up."

"This isn't about me anymore. You'll do it for Henry."

"How do you figure that?"

"Well, because if you don't, you're going to wake up one morning, and discover he's hopped on a bus back to New York. He ran away to Boston to be with you. He'll do the same thing for his father."

"Until Neal lets him down – which he will. It'll be a hard lesson, but then at least Henry will understand that I lied to protect him."

"Someone's beginning to sound a lot like Regina. I think the real reason you lied was to protect yourself."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He had no right talking about Regina. She was making a point to avoid him, so he had no idea what kind of person she was anymore.

"From getting hurt again."

"That's not happening."

"You want a second chance with that man."

Emma couldn't help it. She laughed. "What makes you think that?"

"The look on your face."

"You have no idea what…" Emma was about to show him her engagement ring, but Neal and Henry left the pizza shop that very moment.

"What are we talking about?" Neal asked.

"Emma," Henry started. "Neal wanted to show me the museum. Do you think we can go back to the apartment and get my camera?"

"Yeah, well, I… Kids like culture, right?" Neal asked.

"Sure. Yeah, that's fine. You like the New York pizza?" she asked Henry.

"Yeah. It's delicious, cheesy, and doesn't lie."

Emma guessed she deserved that.

In Storybrooke, Regina entered Granny's Diner, where Snow was waiting for her in a booth. Regina stood across from her.

"So, how is Henry? Is he okay?" Despite Emma's promise, she hadn't gotten one call from either Emma or Henry. She supposed that was for the better, with Cora in town.

"He's fine. Everything's fine."

"What'd he say?" Perhaps she'd gotten a call.

"I didn't actually talk to him."

Regina sat down. "Then why am I here?" She couldn't tell her what she'd told Emma. She wouldn't approve even if she did believe her.

"Because I know you've been lying. And I thought it was time we talk about it." And there it was.

"I don't know what you're talking about-"

"No, no, no, no. No more lying. I know you've been with your mother. I know you're looking for the dagger."

"What I'm doing is my business."

"There's a war starting, Regina."

"That much is clear, yes." And it was. Painfully so.

"Lucky for you, you've earned enough good will with me to give you one last chance – a chance to choose the right side… The side of good." It was only offered because of her engagement to Emma.

"Have you ever considered that maybe, perhaps… I _am_ good?" It was the first truth she'd spoken in a long time. "I was always the Queen. It was you who added 'Evil' to my name."

"Good doesn't do what you do. Why? Regina, why go back to being this way after how hard you tried?"

"And what did it get me? Dinner with a bunch of hypocrites who pretend they'll forgive me, when in their hearts, they know… They never will. You're giving me a chance? How about I give you one? Stay out of my way."

Regina stood up to leave.

"It got you Emma! Listening to your mother is a mistake, Regina."

"Because listening to you will work out so much better."

"She doesn't care about Henry. All she wants is power."

"Power is how you get things."

"She doesn't care about you."

"Really? And what would you know about mothers?" Regina left before she could see the hurt on Snow's face. It was uncalled for, but she knew she had to keep her safe. What better way to keep her at an arm's length than to make her hate her once again?

In New York, the group walked back to Neal's apartment. Henry and Gold are talking, while Emma and Neal trailed behind them.

"So, should I call you grandpa, now?" Henry asked.

"Call me whatever you'd like."

"He's a good kid," Neal stated.

"Yeah," Emma agreed.

"Hey, I'm trying my best here."

"I know. We all are. It's just, we're going to have to go back. To our home."

"I'm just getting to know him."

"Then maybe… Maybe you should come with us."

"To Storybrooke?"

"I've seen your apartment. You don't got a lot going on here."

"Looks can be deceiving. Listen… There's something I've been meaning to tell you. It's complicated."

"So, Neal, do you think we can take the subway?" Henry asked.

"Yeah. Sure, of course. Let's go get that camera."

They arrived at Neal's apartment and the four of them entered the lobby.

"Come on." Henry was getting excited.

"Here. I got it." Neal unlocked the door. He and Henry headed for the apartment, while Emma and Gold stayed behind. "So after this, maybe Times Square?"

"So, uh, did you talk to him?" Gold asked Emma.

"He said it's complicated."

"Oh, I see."

"Well, maybe he just needs some time. I don't know."

Suddenly, Hook ambushed the two of them in the lobby. Hook hit Emma, knocking her to the ground. He then lunged for Mr. Gold and pins him against the wall. Hook then proceeded to stab Mr. Gold in the chest with his hook. "Tick tock. Time's up, crocodile. You took Milah, my love, my happiness. And for that, I now take your life."

Emma, regaining her senses, grabbed something and hit Hook over the head with it. Once Hook was knocked unconscious, she rushed over to Gold, who is now slumped on the floor. "Gold, are you alright?"

Neal heard the commotion and entered the lobby. "What the hell is going on?"

"One of your dad's enemies found us."

"Hook," Neal realized.

"You know him?"

Neal checked Gold's wound. When he pulled his hand away, there was blood on his fingers. "Papa?" Neal brought Gold up to his apartment, where Henry was still waiting, and laid him on the couch.

Emma entered. "Found a storage room and locked our stab-happy pirate in there. Shouldn't be causing anyone else any problems. And get this – he had a map on him. It looks like he sailed his ship here."

"How'd he get a pirate ship into New York?"

"It's cloaked. Don't worry. He's not going to hurt any of us."

"But is Mr. Gold going to be okay?" Henry asked.

"Henry, he's going to be fine," Neal assured him.

"Mr. Gold, are you alright?" When Henry approached Gold, Gold grabbed him abruptly.

"You stay away from me. You caused this. You brought us back here. You did this." He released his grip on Henry.

Emma brought her cell phone over to Henry. "Hey, kid. The battery's dead. Go in the other room and see if you can find a charger, okay?" She should've turned it off more often.

"Okay." Henry left the room.

"Oh, man… We got to get him to an ER, fast," Neal stated.

"It's pointless," Gold told them. His wound had turned a yellow-green color.

"What the hell is that?" Emma asked.

"It's poison. It's one of Hook's own making. There's no antidote in this world. It's… it's not from here."

"Hey, hey, hey, hey. There's got to be some way we can save you," Neal protested.

"There is, there is."

"Storybrooke," Emma realized. "There's magic there now. We need to get him back." Even with Cora there, she'd risk it.

"I'll get a car," Neal volunteered.

"No, no, no. There's not enough time," Gold protested. "We need something faster. The Captain's ship."

"The Jolly Roger instead of a car?" Emma asked.

"It's the fastest vessel in all the realms."

"Well, that's great, but who's going to captain it, since the only guy qualified wants you dead?"

"I can do it," Neal told them.

"Bae?"

"Yeah. I can do it."

"You know how to sail a pirate ship?" Emma asked.

"Yeah. I do."

Neal took out his cell phone and texted someone.

"What are you doing?" Emma asked.

"Getting us a car."

"I thought you were suddenly a pirate and were going to take a ship."

"Yeah, well, we still got to get his ass to the ship."

"So you know Hook?"

"It's a long story. Short version, is this world wasn't my first stop when I left home."

"No?"

"If it was, I'd be a couple hundred years old by now."

Neal's cell phone rang.

"That should be our ride. Hang tight." Neal answered his phone and left the room.

Henry then entered with Emma's cell phone. "Emma, you need to see this."

"What is it, kid?" Emma asked. She wondered if it was Regina again.

"It's a text from David and Mary Margaret. You need to read it – now." Henry handed the phone to Emma. She read the text from Mary Margaret. "Bad news, Gold."

"What, worse than incurable poison?"

"I don't know. You tell me. You got a dagger hidden somewhere in Storybrooke that's the source of all your power?"

"Get to your point."

"Cora's after it. The only way to stop her, is have David and Mary Margaret get to it first."

"Yeah, let Cora try."

"You can't seriously be willing to risk this. Not with your son coming back with you to Storybrooke."

"Miss Swan, that dagger has not left my possession for centuries. It's not about to now."

"Here's the thing. You're dying. And right now, we are your best hope. Time's come for you to start trusting someone. And, if I were you, I'd start with family."

In Storybrooke, Charming and Snow climbed up the clock tower until they reached the clock itself. Charming took off a pane of glass and looked inside. "It's here! A clever hiding place for a very clever man." He detached the dagger from the hand of the clock and handed it to Snow.

"We did it."

"The Dark One finally can be controlled."

Cora and Regina materialize in a puff of purple smoke.

"Indeed he can be. But by whom?" Cora asked.

"Cora…" Snow knew that couldn't be good.

"You're too late," Charming stated.

"Actually, it seems that we found you just in time."

"I told you to pick your side carefully. Good has won, just as it always does," Snow told Regina.

"I think the day's finally come, my darling Snow, for you to learn a long overdue lesson," stated Cora. She waved her hand and Johanna was suddenly there.

"Johanna!" Snow exclaimed.

"You see, in the end, it isn't good or evil that wins… but power."

Regina mentally prepared herself for what she had to do before sticking her hand through Johanna's chest and pulling out her heart. She spoke for the first time, "Your choice." She knew she didn't have to worry. She wouldn't have to crush it. She knew how Snow could be blackmailed.

"Do not harm her," Snow warned. "She has nothing to do with this."

"Of course she does," Cora replied.

"Whatever they want, Snow," Johanna spoke. "Don't give it to them."

"Quiet, handmaid," Cora barked.

Charming drew his gun.

"Mother, watch out," Regina warned. She couldn't believe that after all she'd done, she didn't want any harm to come to her mother.

Cora magically knocked the gun out of his hand.

"Leave me, Snow!" Johanna begged.

Regina began to squeeze Johanna's heart, causing her to yell in pain.

"Enough of this. Surrender the dagger. We all know you'll follow your mother's example, no matter the cost. All she ever wanted was for you to be good."

"Those words… Where did you hear those words?" That had been spoken between herself and the Blue Fairy.

"Where do you think?"

"The Blue Fairy made me swear never to speak of that candle again. Not because it was a secret…" Snow realized. "But because it wasn't her."

"The dagger, dear."

"She didn't give me that candle. You did. My mother wasn't sick at all, was she?"

"Oh, she was quite sick."

"You did all of this. You killed my mother!"

"Actually, the candle would've worked. You could've saved her."

"But you knew I wouldn't. Why? Why did you take her from me?"

"To make my daughter the Queen."

Regina's nostrils flared a bit. She channeled her anger through her words, "Hand over the dagger." She knew that she wouldn't In fact, she was counting on it.

"No. No. I will not let you win. Not again!"

"You've already lost your mother. How many connections to her do you have left?" Cora asked. "Not many, I'd wager."

"If we give up the dagger, we can still win," Charming stated.

"Let me go, Snow," Johanna begged. "It's alright."

Regina squeezed Johanna's heart again.

"What would she say if she could see you now?" Cora asked. "If she wasn't dead."

Regina continued to squeeze Johanna's heart, who yelled out again in pain.

"The dagger, dear," Cora repeated.

"Enough!" Snow cried out. She threw the dagger to the ground, and Regina released her grip on Johanna's heart.

Cora magically summoned the dagger to her hand. "Such a good girl."

Regina cursed inwardly. That wasn't supposed to happen.

"You have what you came for," Snow stated.

Regina put Johanna's heart back into her chest. At least that was something that went according to plan.

Johanna then rushed over to Snow and Charming.

"Not quite everything," Cora replied. Suddenly, Cora magically threw Johanna through the face of the clock, causing her to fall to her death.

Snow looked out and was devastated by what she saw. Charming attempted to comfort her.

"Well, there you go. You see where good gets you?" Regina mentally kicked herself for thinking her mother would let the woman live. She and Cora disappeared in another puff of purple smoke.

They arrived at Regina's mayoral office. Cora sat in the chair behind the desk and laid the dagger in front of her.

"It's nice to be back. Hiding is quite wearisome." Regina wondered if Cora could just go away now. She doubted she would, however.

"I like what you've done with the place."

"I'm so happy you approve." But she wasn't. Not remotely.

"What is it, my love? You're troubled."

Of course Regina was troubled. Emma and Henry were still out there, Cora was still there, and Regina had learned something new about her that she would've rather not known. "You never told me about your history with Snow's mother."

"I spared you that burden, like any good parent would do."

"You didn't think I deserved to know exactly what it took for me to become Queen?"

"Now you know."

"That day at the stables, when I rescued her? That wasn't an accident, was it? You made sure I'd be in the pastures when Snow rode past. You had to make sure when I met Snow White… her father would be searching for a new Queen."

"And what does this knowledge change for you?" Cora asked.

Regina wanted to scream both everything and nothing. She wanted to banish Cora from Storybrooke as she herself had been banished before. She wanted her gone. She wanted Emma and Henry back, she wanted to get married, and she even wanted Snow's approval for it. She wanted her life back. Instead, she replied, "That you won, mother. I am the Queen. And, if that's what you wanted so badly, why do you need Rumpelstiltskin's dagger now?"

"You're worried my interests are no longer aligned with yours."

"My only interest now is Henry." She refused to tell her about Emma.

"And I've told you – you'll have him."

"But how? Now that Mary Margaret and David know we have the dagger, we can't use Gold to kill them without Henry finding out."

"Have patience, my love. By the time Rumpelstiltskin returns, Emma Swan and the rest of them will be nothing more than a vaguely unpleasant memory. And Henry, will be yours."

Regina wondered if Cora knew anyway. She seemed to like bringing Emma up a lot when she spoke of death. Regina hoped beyond hoped that she didn't.

In New York, Emma and Neal were walking to the car that Neal has arranged for.

"It should be one more block west," Neal announced.

"Once we get the car, what do we do about Hook?"

"I don't know. He made his way to New York. I'm sure he could make his way out of a basement. You have a problem leaving him behind?"

"Actually, I've done it before."

"Great."

"I have to admit, after some of the things you've said, I'm surprised you'd rally to his side like this."

"There's a difference between running away from your father, and watching him die in front of you. He may be a monster, but he's my blood."

"What happens when he's healed?"

"I don't know. Forgiveness ain't something I think is possible with him."

"But somewhere inside you, you hope someday, it will be."

"Life's full of surprises, isn't it?"

"Well, no matter what, it'll be nice for Henry to be around you a little bit, even if it is just for a visit."

"Here's our car." Neal ran over to a grey car, and grabbed a set of keys from behind the wheel.

"Please tell me we are not going to hotwire this thing."

"No. Uh… It belongs to a friend."

"That's a generous friend."

"Yeah, about that. Um… We need to finish our conversation from earlier. There's something you need to know about me before we get on the ship."

A woman, Tamara, called out to Neal and ran up to them. "Neal! Thank God I caught you."

"What are you doing here?"

"I don't know. I… Maybe I got a little worried after talking to you. You can't just say you're… leaving town for a while."

"Hey. Yeah, listen. Everything's fine, okay? I promise."

"Great, sweetie. Just tell me what's going on."

"Neal?" Emma asked.

"I'm Tamara." She shook Emma's hand.

"Emma."

"She's my fiancée."

Later, the New York group was sailing on Hook's ship towards Storybrooke. Henry and Neal were steering the ship, while Emma tended to Gold below deck.

"You don't look comfortable."

"The poison racing towards my heart will have that effect."

"Tell me about this, uh, knife of yours. Cora and Regina… If they do have it, they can make you do anything?" She might as well make Regina seem like she's in on it. She thought Regina would prefer it that way, considering how much she despised him.

"Indeed."

"Like… Kill us all?"

"Yeah. You're hoping I bleed to death now, aren't you?"

"You're Henry's grandfather. We're family now. I'm going to save you."

"Oh, I feel so reassured," his voice dripped with sarcasm.

In Storybrooke, Charming is talking to Snow on his cell phone. "Hey. I just talked to Emma. It's a bad wound. She says it's poison. They can only cure it back here in Storybrooke. They're taking a ship home."

"Well, let them know that they have the knife, okay? Who knows what that wicked woman would do?"

Cora and Regina were in her office, listening in to the phone conversation. Hearing enough, Cora knocked the speaker off of the desk, cutting off the connection.

"Mother," Regina admonished, getting up to retrieve the speaker.

"I don't like what that enchanted box was saying. I'm not… I'm not wicked."

Regina almost laughed. "It's not an enchanted box. It's a phone tap."

"I don't care. What matters is, they've been warned. Rumpelstiltskin's smart. And now, he has time to think."

"But he's injured."

Cora looked at the dagger and noticed that Rumpelstiltskin's name was slowly disappearing from the blade. "More than injured, I'd say. He's dying. And when his name disappears, all of that power of his will just… boil off into the air and… then there will be no new Dark One."

"Okay. So we have to use him to get Henry back before he dies."

"Not in his condition. I don't want to kill him faster. No, there are no other options. I have to stab him with this knife, and take his power as my own. I have to become the Dark One. And with his power, there's nothing I won't be able to do."

Regina didn't like that idea at all. "But Henry's never going to forgive that. And the whole point of this is… wait. What is the point of all this?"

"To protect our family."

That was Regina's point in all of this alright, but she knew it wasn't Cora's. "Or you gaining your power."

"Whatever power I gain is for us – to protect you, to protect Henry. If we lose this battle, we'll spend the rest of our short lives on our knees in front of them. And that, my love? Is something I'll never do."

Regina hoped that all of this would be over, and soon.

Charming, Snow, and Red arrived at the docks to meet Emma and company. Neal and Red helped Mr. Gold off of the ship.

"Are you okay?" Snow asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, we're alright," Emma answered.

Charming took over Red's position, and he and Neal headed towards the truck with Gold.

"Uh, I drove a ship," Henry bragged.

"Did you now?" Charming asked.

"Yeah, my dad showed me how."

"That's…me," Neal introduced himself.

They sat Gold on the back of the truck. "Thank you, thank you."

"Is Cora trying to control you with the dagger?" Charming asked Gold.

"Oh, you'd know if she was, cause most of you would be dead by now."

"Well, then we'll just have to take the fight to her before that can happen," Snow stated decisively.

"We will," Charming stated.

"And this time, we finish it."

"Mary Margaret…"

"David. She needs to be stopped. She needs to be killed. This is our family. We are going to protect it."

"Of course we will, but what you're talking about goes beyond that."

"Does it? Because she is the reason you've never met my mother."

"I know. I know what happened to Queen Eva, and I have zero problem with Cora dying for it. But not by your hand, and not out of vengeance."

"Why?"

"Because you wouldn't be able to live with yourself. You have the purest heart of anyone I have ever known. That's who you are, and that's who you're going to stay."

"You okay?" Emma asked Gold.

"Ah, I'm beginning to feel a bit stronger. Take me back to my shop. There's magic there that can protect us."

"Let me guess. I get to go with Ruby," Henry stated.

"You got it, kid," Emma answered.

"I'll keep him out of the crossfire," Red promised.

"Thank you," Snow thanked her.

"Don't look so worried. You'll stop Cora. You won't let her get away," Henry told them.

The group has arrived at Gold's Pawn Shop. They sat Gold in the back part of the shop to rest. Emma entered with an empty glass container.

"Emma, did you find it?" Gold asked.

"Yeah. There's nothing in it." Emma shook the container, creating a clinking sound. "What the hell?" She stuck her hand inside the container and took out something that seemed to be invisible.

"Invisible chalk. Use it in the front doorway. Draw a line. The rest of you, you might want to prepare for battle."

Everyone went to leave, but Gold stopped Snow. "Oh. Oh, wait, wait. Please. Can you… get me a warmer blanket? In that cabinet."

Snow went to the cabinet and opened the door. Inside, she found the 'candle of death' that was previously given to her by Cora as the Blue Fairy. She slowly took it out and held it in front of Gold. "Why do you have this?"

"For a rainy day."

At the front of the shop, Emma drew a line with the invisible chalk in front of the door. Neal watched her. "Missed a spot."

"You're hilarious."

"I didn't know you were magical."

"Oh, my. Are you getting judgey about this? Cause you're not allowed to have opinions about surprises, Mr. Son-of-Rumpelstiltskin."

"Oh…"

"What 'oh'?"

"I didn't mean for Tamara to be a surprise."

"You think I care that a guy I dated a decade ago is engaged?"

Charming entered. "We're all clear outside. Everything okay?"

Snow and Gold were still conversing in the back of the shop.

"You're not getting any better, are you?"

"The candle can save me. There's nothing else."

"I wouldn't use this to save my own mother. What makes you think I would use it for you?"

"Because you're all grown up now. And for once, our interests are aligned."

"She dies instead of you," she spoke in realization.

"I know you can do this. I know you want to do this."

"There's no coming back from murder."

"And there's no coming back from death, either. And that's what will happen to your loved ones."

"Even if I were to do this… the candle only works if you whisper the victim's name over them."

"The heart will do."

"Cora's heart – it's not in her body."

"Use the candle, curse the heart. And then… here comes the tricky part."

"That's not the tricky part?"

"You have to put the heart back inside Cora's body. She will die, and I will live."

"There's another way. I get Cora's heart, I control her and make her do the right thing, and I let you die. Takes care of two evils at once."

"I'm just imagining poor Henry's face when he finds out that you killed his grandpa."

Emma entered. "I drew the invisible line. I…think. What now? You cast a protection spell?"

"No, no. You're going to do that for me. I'm relying on you."

"I can't cast a spell. I can spell 'spell'."

"You can. It's in you."

"How? Here? Like, from my brain?"

"Just try."

Emma closed her eyes and concentrated, but nothing happened.

"Stop thinking! Conjuring magic is not intellectual endeavor. It's emotion. You must ask yourself, 'why am I doing this? Who am I protecting?' Feel it."

Again, Emma closed her eyes. This time, a wave of magic passed over the entire shop.

"Oh, yeah. You feel it?"

"Yeah… I think I did."

"Good girl. Very good girl."

Charming and Snow were keeping a lookout for Cora and Regina. Charming noticed that Snow looked disturbed. "What's wrong? Did Gold tell you something?"

"No. I mean, he just said that Cora's determined to hurt us."

"I won't let that happen. We'll do whatever needs to be done."

"You're right. You're absolutely right."

A tremor surged through the building. David entered the back of the shop to warn the others. "It's them. Regina and Cora – they're here."

Outside, Regina and Cora conjured a magical fireball together. They threw it against the door, which easily broke Emma's protection spell. When they entered the shop, they found Emma, Neal, and David armed with swords.

"Regina." Emma let out a slow breath, reminding herself that she wasn't really against her. She'd been acting the entire time Emma had been away, and it was now Emma's turn to act. "Think about what you're doing."

"Don't talk to me."

Everyone but Emma missed it, but there was pain laced in Regina's voice. Emma knew Regina didn't like the part she was playing at all.

While everyone was distracted, Snow snuck out the side door. Regina created a magical fireball and hurled it at the group, but Charming deflected it with his sword. Regina magically threw Charming out the front door and locked him out. Again, safety hidden under the guise of attack.

"David!" Emma exclaimed.

Cora magically blasted Emma backwards and Neal lunged at Cora in retaliation. Cora disappeared in a puff of purple smoke, but dropped the dagger on the floor in the process. Regina knew if she didn't do something against Emma, she'd give herself away. So with less force than what appeared to be, she made show of attempting to magically strangle Emma, but was momentarily, thankfully distracted when Cora reappeared. Grabbing a knife from the counter, Emma silently apologized for what she was about to do. She grabbed Regina and held the dagger to her throat. With the dagger still on the floor, Neal and Cora have a face off.

"What's it going to be?" Neal asked.

"Mother!" Regina called out, even though she knew she was in no danger. Behind her back, one of her hands was clasped with Emma's free one.

"Choose wisely," Neal addressed Cora.

Cora summoned the dagger to her hand. Emma murmured a quick, whispered apology to Regina before throwing her into Cora, the two of them falling into the glass counter.

"Fall back to Gold! I have the chalk." Emma and Neal fled to the back of the shop. Emma and Neal flee to the back of the shop. Emma drew a line in front of the door with the chalk, creating a protective barrier.

"Help me take out Rumpelstiltskin, and then we'll go back-" Cora suddenly stopped talking. She appeared to be in minor pain and disorientated.

"Mother, what is it?" Regina asked.

"My… My heart. It's with my things in your vault. Someone's there."

"Mother?" Regina questioned.

"Go. Go!"

Regina wasn't sure why, but she listened.

Cora stood in front of the barrier and got to work at attempting to break it. "Really, Rumpel. Hiding's beneath you."

Snow had broken into Regina's mausoleum. Inside, she navigated the chambers until she came to one with several chests and cabinets.

Outside of Gold's shop, Charming came to. He called Emma, who was still in the back room, on his cell phone.

"David?" she answered.

"Are you safe?"

"For now. I've got the spell up in the back room."

"Is Mary Margaret okay?"

The woman in question was rummaging through the boxes in the chamber at that very moment

"She's not with you?" Emma asked, having no idea whatsoever what her mother was planning.

"No. Where the hell is she?"

Still searching, Snow opened one of the cabinets and found the inside filled with small boxes containing hearts. The box where Cora's heart lies was glowing and a heart beat could be heard. She removed the box and opened the lid. When she saw the beating heart, she quickly slammed the lid shut and closesd her eyes. Making a decision, she reopened the box, and lit both ends of the 'candle of death'. She held the candle over Cora's heart and whispered the name. "Cora… Cora…" The name echoed throughout the chamber. Snow then blew out the ends of the candle.

Cora was still attempting to break the protective barrier with magic. Emma, Neal, and Gold were still stuck in the back room.

"It's getting weaker," Neal observed. "She's going to get through."

"Maybe it's for the best," Gold replied. "At least this cursed power will pass from this world."

"No. No, you're not dying."

"I am dying. That much is certain. I need to talk to Belle. Emma, please."

"Who's Belle?"

Emma dialed a number and handed her cell phone to Gold. "Your dad's girlfriend."

Belle, who was still in the hospital, answered the phone. "Mr. Gold, I… I told you before, I… I-I don't remember you."

"I-I… I know. I know. It's just… Sweetheart, I… I'm dying."

"Oh. I'm, uh… I'm… I'm so sorry."

"I know that you're…confused about who you are. So, I'm going to tell you. You are a hero, who helped your people. You're a beautiful woman, who loved an ugly man. Really, really loved me. You find goodness in others. And when it's not there, you create it. You make me want to go back. Back, to the best version of me. And that never happened before. So, when you look in the mirror and you don't know who you are, that's who you are. Thank you… Belle…" Gold hung up the phone.

Neal cleared his throat and broke the awkward silence, "Didn't know you had that in you."

"Oh, I'm full of love. I've spent a lifetime looking for you. For a chance to say I love you. And I'm sorry."

"I didn't think you would go back on our deal."

"I just made the wrong choice. May I?" Gold extended his hand to Neal.

"I'm still angry."

"I know…"

Neal took his hand.

On her way out of the mausoleum, heart box in hand, Snow ran into Regina.

"You have no right to be here. And you have no right to that!"

"I was going to give it to you."

"What?"

"She can't love you, you know. She doesn't have her heart. With it, maybe she can. That's why you've never felt she loved you. She doesn't have her heart. But I do."

"You're doing this for me?" Regina was still weary, but Snow made sense.

"Think about it. What would happen if Cora had her heart back? Back inside her?"

"She told me she took it out to protect herself."

"And did it work? The person she was before… Do you think that person survived? She can't love, so she can't love you."

"She always wanted the best for me. That's love." She knew it wasn't, though. But the thought was attractive. Could she actually have a _real _mother? One who might even choose to be present at her wedding?

"Imagine real love. You'd have a mother, and a start on making a family Henry could be a part of. Or, you could have her be the Dark One. The choice is yours." Snow held out the box containing Cora's heart.

Still unsuccessful at breaking through the barrier, Cora looked at the dagger. Rumpelstiltskin's name had almost completely disappeared.

Snow was sitting on the steps of Regina's mausoleum with her head in her hands.

Charming found her. "Mary Margaret! Are you okay?! Are you… What did you do?"

"You were right. This isn't me."

Finally, Cora broke through the barrier and entered the back of the shop. Emma and Neal were armed and prepared to fight. "You two – out of the way." Cora magically teleported Neal and Emma out of the room. They appeared on a random path in the middle of the woods. Cora and Gold were left alone.

"A vision told me about you. Told me this day would come. But it didn't tell me everything. Didn't tell me what I really wanted to know."

Cora sat next to Gold on the bed. "And what's that?"

"Did you ever love me?"

Cora stroked the side of his face. "Why do you think I had to rip my own heart out? You were my weakness. You are the only man I ever truly loved." Cora stood up and raised the dagger above Gold. Before she had a chance to stab him, Regina appeared and shoved Cora's heart back into her chest. The dagger fell to the ground and Gold seemed to instantly recover. Cora staggered backwards and looked up to see Regina. Cora's demeanor completely changed and she smiles. Hopeful, Regina smiled back.

"Mother…" It was working. Snow had been right. With her heart, Cora could be everything she hadn't been able to be before.

Cora continued with her strange behavior and began to laugh. Confused, Gold checked the wound on his chest and discovered that it had completely healed over. Cora paused and looked down, where she finds a hole had developed in her chest. Regina caught her as she collapsed to the ground and she held Cora in her arms. Gold retrieved his dagger from the floor.

"Mother? Mother? What's wrong?"

"This… Would've been enough. You… You would've been enough." Cora stopped talking and her eyes shut.

"Mother? What's going on? Mother? Don't leave me, please… What am I going to do?" Regina had tears streaking down her cheeks and her mascara was running.

"Your mother did you no favors," Gold stated.

"Shut up!" Regina snapped at him. "You stole her life! You cast some spell."

"I did nothing."

A frantic Snow rushed into the room with Charming trailing behind her. "Regina! Stop!"

Regina slowly looked up. "You did this." She'd done too good a job of making Snow hate her again. She'd been tricked.

Emma tried calling Regina, but lost in some random part of the woods, she had no signal. She didn't remember leaving Neal behind, but she had. Or perhaps he'd left her behind. It really didn't matter, Emma needed to get home. She needed to find out what happened. She needed to know if Regina was okay, if her parents were okay. She needed to know what became of Gold and Cora.

It seemed like it was hours before Emma made it out of the woods, where she got a signal. However when she called, Regina did not answer. She called again and again but to no avail. "Damn it!" she kicked the ground. What the hell had she missed? She tried her parents next, but they didn't answer either. She sighed. She would have to call Red. She hadn't wanted to because Henry was with her, but perhaps Red would pawn him off onto Granny long enough to come get her. She needed to get home. So, yet again, she dialed a number and lifted her phone to her ear.

Thankfully, it was answered. "Emma?"

"I was cast out somewhere into the middle of the woods. It was Cora. I'm out of the woods now, but I have no idea where I am and I can't see anything familiar. There's a street sign up ahead, if I go up and tell you what it is, can you come get me? I need to get home and I don't know what's going on. No one else is answering their phones and I'm worried. And if you do, can you please not bring Henry? I don't know if it's over or not."

"Okay, okay Emma. I'll come get you. Tell me what the street is and I'll look up directions."

Emma walked the distance to the sign. "Hold on, this is a little farther than it looks." It took a couple minutes, but she finally reached it. "Pine. It's Pine St."

"Okay, I'm looking it up right now…"

Emma could hear the sounds of keyboard keys clicking in the background for a few moments.

"Jesus," Red breathed. "She sent you pretty far. It's a half hour drive."

"Okay. I don't really have much to do but wait." She groaned mentally. That was an hour until she'd find out what was going on. "I'll give you forty-five minutes. If you're not here by then, I'm calling you back."

"Alright. I'll see you soon-ish, Emma."

"See you." Emma hung up. She sat by the pole of the street sign and waited, checking the time on her phone. She closed her eyes, all sorts of scenarios running through her head as to why Regina and her parents weren't answering her calls. She swallowed hard at the thought that Cora had won. If Cora had won her parents would be dead and Regina would be stuck helplessly wrapped around her finger. If that was the case, it was no wonder they weren't answering their phones. Copses can't use phones, and Regina would have to sneak around behind her mother's back just to text her. "No," Emma told herself as she shook her head to shake those thoughts away. "Not happening." She opened the text page and typed many things: _What happened?; Are you okay?; Where are you?; Why didn't you answer my calls?; Your mother threw me out into the woods; What happened to Gold?; Did Cora win?; What happened to my parents?; Is it over? _But she didn't send any of them. She couldn't.

Emma was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realize Red had arrived until the woman in question leaned on the horn. Emma jumped, looking up, and smiling with relief as she slid into the warm car. "Thank you. That was a huge favor, taking a half hour of your time to get here and now taking another to go back."

"Where do you want me to take you, Emma?" Red asked softly. "Home? Your parents'? Gold's shop?"

"Home," Emma answered. Her car was there and she could go to the other places on her own, if she needed to.

"Okay." Red looked over to her. "Put your seatbelt on."

Emma nodded and did so as Red started the drive back.

"So you haven't heard from anyone yet?" Red asked.

"Not yet."

Red frowned. "It's been hours since I took Henry from you, you know. I can't imagine it's possibly still going on."

Emma shrugged. "But it might be. With how powerful Gold and Cora are… they could have an epic battle for years."

"Wasn't Gold dying, though?"

"Yeah, I guess you have a point, there." Emma rubbed her temple. "I just want my family to be safe. If they're not, mark my words, I am leaving and I'm never coming back to this town again."

"Henry's safe," Red offered meekly.

"That's not enough."

Red pressed her lips together in a grim line. "No," she agreed. "I suppose it's not."

When Emma walked through the front door, her jaw dropped. The house looked like a tornado had hit. "What the hell _happened _here?" she asked aloud. She heard a crash upstairs. Emma darted up the stairs, taking them two, sometimes even three at a time. She ran into the bedroom, kicking the partially open door the rest of the way open. She gasped at what she saw. The mattress was half off the bed, split down the seams with stuffing coming out, the blinds were torn, and the window broken, its glass littered all over the floor, there were even chunks of glass sticking out of the walls. The bedside table had been blasted into splinters of wood; the closet door suffered a similar fate. And in the middle of it all stood Regina, a medium-sized ball of purple and blue magical energy between her hands. "Regina! Regina, stop!" She ran into the room and wrapped her arms around Regina's waist, tugging her backwards until they were out of the room. She tugged them back with such force they fell over backwards into the hall, Emma under Regina. This was the one area in the whole house, Emma would bet, that was actually safe.

Regina let out a loud and animalistic growl. "Let me go!"

"No!" Emma tightened her arms around Regina so that she couldn't break away. She felt something wet splash against one of her hands. She bet it was blood. "No, Regina. You've hurt yourself. I won't let you do it anymore."

Regina stopped fighting her. She'd thought she'd run out of tears, but she was wrong because they started up again.

"Regina, what _happened? _Why did you do this?"

"She _killed _my _mother!_" Regina wailed.

"Who?" Emma demanded.

"Who do you think?" Regina spat. "Snow White!"

"My _mother?_"

"Yes, your _mother_."

"Wait." Emma put a hand on her shoulder. She thought she just saw something. "Look at me again."

Regina turned her head to face her.

"Is that…?" Emma leaned in closer, squinting her eyes to see better. "Holy shit, Regina! There is _glass _in your _eye!_" She quickly rose to her feet, dragging Regina up with her. "How the _fuck _did you do that and not notice it?" Emma tugged on her hand. "We need to get that out right now."

As she started pulling her toward the stairs, she saw a thin line of red trickle out from Regina's left eye. "Shit, it's bleeding now. Try not to blink, that'll only push it in deeper."

Regina stumbled along down the stairs as Emma pulled her, trying to process everything. "Can you see?" Emma asked. "Is your vision cloudy? Are you seeing red? Is your depth-perception off?"

Finally, Regina snapped, "Shut _up_, Emma! Just shut up!"

Emma ignored her and eventually shoved her into the passenger seat of her car, got in herself, and sped to the hospital.


	10. Chapter 10

Emma waited. She waited forever. At least, that's how long it felt like. They needed to operate to get that stupid tiny piece of glass out of Regina's eye. Emma ended up thinking too hard and falling asleep. She woke only when she heard a familiar voice clear their throat, and she woke with a start. "So…?"

"So I have to walk around looking like a pirate for the next couple of days, but they got it out." Regina had a white bandage taped over her left eye, to keep everything bad out while it healed.

"How's your vision going to be? Are you going to be part blind, now?"

"Not literally," Regina answered. "Surprisingly. It'll be exactly the same."

"Well, that's good." It was just about the only thing that was good at the moment. She crossed her arms. "You tore our house apart. Where do you propose we sleep tonight? And tomorrow. And the rest of this week, and next week, next month?"

Regina sighed. "Granny's?" she suggested.

"I guess we'll have to." Her parents' wasn't an option. Not now, possibly not ever. Not after what Snow did. Emma wasn't sure she even wanted to know the details of how _that _had happened. She stood up.

"How are you not hating me right now?"

"_You _didn't kill anyone," Emma stated pointedly. She took Regina's left hand. "And you're wearing this for a reason." She pointed to the ring there. She held up her own hand. "As am I. I'm done running. Now I don't run from what's broken. Now I fix it." She took her hand again, gently tugging her along to the exit.

"Are _we _broken?" Regina asked, a sadness to her tone.

"No," Emma answered. "But you still are. Losing someone sucks, even if they never were very nice."

Regina squeezed her hand. "I don't deserve you," she murmured.

"Hey now, none of that." She led her back to her car. "These past few days haven't been easy on either of us. But you know what? We made it through. And we are going to keep on making it through because one day I _will _see you in a white dress. Or, knowing you, it'll be purple."

That earned her a smile, at least.

Forty-five minutes later they were nicely tucked into a bed that hadn't been torn apart at Granny's Bed and Breakfast.

"Think you can _not _throw around fiery balls of magic next time you get upset?" Emma murmured.

"I suppose I'll rein it in. I've had my fill of magic for just about ever."

"Good. That was one hell of a sight to come home to. At least now I know why you weren't answering your phone."

"I'm sorry," Regina's voice broke.

"Okay, you need hug. I should've given you one a long time ago." She wrapped her arms around Regina, holding her close. "You'll be okay," she murmured and pressed a kiss to her shoulder.

"I missed you," Regina whispered. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you, too. And I promise, nothing will ever take me away from you again."

Regina simply huddled in Emma's embrace, resting her head on her shoulder.

They fell asleep like that.

About half an hour after they woke up the next day, Regina groaned,

"Oh, this is so not fair!"

"What isn't fair?"

Regina sighed. "Today's our anniversary."

"Oh. _Oh_." Regina was right. That wasn't fair. Now each year their anniversary would be just one day after the anniversary of Cora's death. "Well…" Emma tried to think of a solution. "Maybe we just shouldn't count it. Wait until we're married and then count that day."

"No, an anniversary is an anniversary. You can't just cancel it out and replace it with another. There's just going to be two. This one and the wedding one."

"Okay… So are we going to have breakfast or are we going to sit around and starve all day?"

Regina let out a dark chuckle. "That last one is actually tempting."

"That's not funny."

"It wasn't meant to be."

"Okay, do I seriously need to worry about you going anorexic on me? Am I going to have to start feeding you by force? That wouldn't be fun for either of us."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Regina asked as she headed for the door, ignoring everything Emma had just said.

Emma let out a sigh and followed her. She knew she'd have to keep an eye on her; she was still acting strange.

"What are we going to do about Henry?" Emma asked as they sat at a table downstairs, waiting for their breakfast to arrive.

"Bring him here, I suppose."

"Okay, that was the easier one. What are we going to do about the house?"

Regina groaned. "I don't know, replace everything?"

"And how long will that take? Wasn't it all just…_poof_…magically there after the curse?"

"Why did you remind me?" Regina whined before dropping her head onto her arms.

Emma reached across the table and patted her shoulder gently. "I'm sorry."

A few moments later, Regina snapped her head back up. "Snow is not welcome for the wedding."

Emma blinked, surprised by the sudden change of topic. "I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to go, anyway."

"Well if she changes her mind, make it very clear that she _can't _be there."

Emma nodded. "Okay. I don't really want her there, either," she admitted. "Especially not after, well, _that_."

"And I don't want her around Henry."

"Well…"

"No. No 'well'. I don't want her around him."

Emma exhaled, remembering something. "Okay, listen, I discovered something in New York that you're not going to like."

"Worse than your mother killing mine?" Regina asked in a tone that was clearly doubtful.

"Maybe." Emma let out another breath. "Henry's father is Gold's son."

Regina stiffened. "What?"

Emma nodded. "I know. I don't like it either. But it's true. And believe me, I didn't know who he was at the time."

"That means that Gold…"

"Is Henry's grandfather, yes. I wanted to tell you before but you were… busy."

Their food was brought to the table then. The next few minutes were silent as they started in.

"Really though, what are we going to do about the house?" Emma asked again after she'd finished the last of her scrambled eggs.

"_Attempt _to replace everything."

"Or we could leave," Emma suggested.

Regina's fork clattered against the plate as it fell from her hand. "What?"

"We could just grab Henry and go. Leave this town, leave this state…maybe even leave this country. I _have _always wanted to go to Europe."

"Emma," Regina admonished just by saying her name.

"Think about it, Regina. What's really left for us here? Henry and I are your only family, and mine… well; mine don't even feel like family. Especially not right now."

"Just last night you were saying that you don't run from what's broken, but isn't that exactly what you're talking about?"

"When I run I don't take people with me."

"It's still running. Running from everything that just happened."

"Wouldn't that be good, though? A fresh start somewhere safe where there's no magic to confuse everything? Somewhere that Henry can go to school and make friends and feel safe enough to invite them over? Somewhere where we're not the Mayor and the Sheriff, where people don't expect us to be the Evil Queen and the Savior, where we can just live our lives like normal people?"

"The last time someone tried to get me to think of a better life, someone ended up dead."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that Snow tricked me with pretty illusions of what my life could've been and what, at the time, still could be. I'm just not ready to walk down that 'grass is greener on the other side' road again because last time? Last time it was black."

"Okay, I'm going to go out and get you a blank book to write stuff like that down in. That was pure poetry."

"That wasn't supposed to be entertaining."

"Okay." If Emma could convince her to leave eventually, she'd nudge her in the direction of being a writer. Because the things that came out of her mouth sometimes belonged in a book. Not a book full of fairytales, either. She started at her bacon, musing in her thoughts of what life could be like outside of Storybrooke for them.

On their way back to their room, Regina stated, "I don't want Henry here until I can take this bandage off my eye."

"Okay, so not for a couple more days, then?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, I think I can manage that."

**Author's Note: I know the first episode of season two aired in September last year and the one where Cora dies aired in March this year, but for the sake of this fic there's about a year and a half between these events.**


	11. Chapter 11

"So, no one's gonna tell me what happened?" Henry asked.

"The house is a little…unable to be lived in right now," Emma thought that was the answer to what he was asking.

"I don't mean the house."

"Of course not," Emma mumbled under her breath.

"I mean after I was sent off with Red. What happened?"

"I don't know, kid."

"How do you _not _know? You were there!"

"Not for all of it."

Henry looked over to Regina.

"Neither was I," she told him.

Henry crossed his arms. "Are you both lying to me right now? I thought you would've learned your lesson about lying in New York, Emma."

"Henry!" Regina exclaimed. "Do not talk to her like that. I raised you better than that."

"She told me my father was dead!" Henry shot back. "She told me that he was a fireman and that he died saving someone's life! At this point I wouldn't be surprised if she's lying about being my mother!"

Regina gasped. Henry had never been so cold. Ever. She tried to stop him from running out the door, but he was too fast and she'd frozen just a moment too long after his words sank in. Still, she had to try. By the time she'd reached the door, he was already down the stairs. He'd been a little escape artist long enough that Regina knew he never put himself in danger and always ran to somewhere, or someone, safe. So she just let him go. She'd have a serious talk with him later. But for the moment she closed the door and went over to Emma, pulling her into an embrace. "Emma, he didn't mean that," she tried soothing her.

"Yeah, I think he did," Emma's voice came out in a strain that perfectly matched her crumpled expression.

"He's eleven, still practically a baby. I don't know what's gotten into him, but he'll get over it. He still loves you."

"He won't when I tell him he can't see Snow anymore."

"Then _I'll _tell him."

"Then he'll hate us both. Regina, you worked so hard to get him to love you again. Don't throw that away."

And that was why Emma was Emma, Regina thought. Always thinking of others even when she's in pain. "I've had years of experience with him, and you're just getting your feet wet. I can take it. I can handle him seeing me as the bad guy again."

"No you can't." Emma pulled back and rested a hand on her cheek. "I know what it does to you. You already have enough on your plate right now. I don't want you to be broken forever, and that's exactly what will happen if you take this fall. Let him see me as the bad guy for once. I'm already headed in that direction anyway."

"This was supposed to be me making you feel better. Why do I get the feeling the tables have turned?"

"Because the tables are constantly turning," Emma answered.

Regina reached out and wiped tears from Emma's cheeks that Emma hadn't realized were there.

"We should probably find Henry."

"He's just downstairs," Regina told her. "Probably convincing them to give him on the house pancakes."

Emma had to laugh. "That _does _sound like something he would do." She straightened up and squared her shoulders. "I still think we should go get him."

"Okay."

Emma took her hand once they reached the door. "Just let me be the bad guy, okay?" She squeezed her hand gently.

"I'm not going to win this, am I?"

"No, you're really not."

Regina had been right. When they reached the first floor, Henry was there with a heap of pancakes on his plate, enough for three people, drenched in syrup with butter melting on the very top. It was, neither of them doubted, on the house.

"Henry." Regina slid into the booth seat across from him, and Emma slid in next to her.

Henry looked up and scowled. "What is _she _doing here?"

Regina ignored him. "You're right Henry, she lied. And it was wrong. So go ahead, hate her for it if you want. But it won't change the fact that she _is _your mother, and it certainly won't make you feel any better. It's easier when you have someplace else to run off to, isn't it, Henry? Isn't that what you did before? When you got tired of me you ran off to Emma."

"Can't do that anymore, Henry," Emma cut in. "Like it or not, I love her and she loves me. You can run to her but you won't get very far away from me when you do. You don't have anyplace else to run, kid. There's just me and Regina."

"There's Snow and Charming," Henry protested.

"No, there's really not. Because like Regina and I, they stick together. You can not see Snow anymore, therefore you can not see Charming. They're a package deal. Red has a job, so you can't run off to her, either."

"Snow's my grandmother!"

"That may be true, but Gold is also your grandfather. We don't consider him family, do we?"

"Ever since the curse broke they've been family!"

"Not anymore." Emma shook her head. "Now it's just you me and Regina, like it was when you first brought me here."

"You can't be serious."

"Oh, I'm _very _serious."

It was very odd for Regina to watch as the conversation unfolded. Emma was better at taking on the bad cop role than she would have originally given her credit for. She guessed it was due to her being a bail bondsman before arriving in Storybrooke. Being Sheriff probably helped.

Next, from Henry, came those inevitable words, "I hate you." Then he was off, running away once more, abandoning his barely eaten stack of pancakes.

Emma let out a long sigh. "Knew that was coming." It was the equivalent, more mature, 'I told you so'.

Regina rested her hand on Emma's thigh, stroking it comfortingly.

"Now you see why I had to be the bad guy?" Emma asked.

Regina nodded. She knew she would have fallen apart if she'd heard those words directed at her once again.

"Now you're the good mom, and I'm mommy dearest." Emma sighed. "So, where'd he go this time?"

"Up to the room, probably."

"You don't think he'd try running any further after that?"

"Well, like you said, there's not very many places he can run to now. Even if he wanted to run to Snow and Charming, it's too far away."

"You sure about that? He _did _manage to get from here to Boston all on his own to find me."

"That wasn't _all _on his own."

"Okay, so he had help. But remember who helped him?"

"Snow."

"Exactly. And Red's the one who brought me home a few nights ago. If Henry finds her and asks her to take him to them, she will."

"You never told me where you were that you needed to be brought home from."

"Your mother magically booted me out to the middle of the woods. I made my way out and tried calling everyone, but she was the only one who answered. I decided to find you first, and you know the rest. Thing is, if I wanted her to, she would've taken me to them and she doesn't know that we don't want Henry seeing Snow."

"Call her, then," Regina responded simply. "Let her know."

"Right," Emma answered, feeling a bit slow. "I swear I misplace my brain sometimes."

Regina snorted. "You probably would if it wasn't attached."

"Thanks," Emma replied dryly as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.


	12. Chapter 12

"I have a feeling that I'm going to truly regret asking," Emma began. "But what exactly did my mother do?"

"Well, that's a loaded question if I've ever heard one."

Emma sighed. "You know what I'm talking about."

"I do."

"So, are you going to tell me?"

"I don't know, dear, it may ruin your pretty little image of her."

Emma snorted. "Okay, Regina, you know I've never put her on a pedestal. I've never viewed her as a saint. So just tell me before I lose the courage to ask."

Regina ran a hand through her own short, dark hair. "Fine, fine. But remember," she pointed at her. "_You _asked."

"Lay it on me."

Regina drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Okay, first a little background information. My mother could basically look like anyone she wanted to at any time, and nobody would ever be able to tell the difference. Once upon a time, when Snow's mother was sick and dying, she masqueraded as the Blue Fairy to use the rouse of being on the side of good to sway Snow to the other side."

"How would that even benefit - ? No, sorry, sorry. Keep talking." Emma made a zipping motion across her own lips.

"As I was saying," Regina went on. "When Snow wished upon a star that night, instead of getting the real Blue Fairy, she got my mother instead. Snow was at her last hope of saving her mother and my mother provided her with a way."

Emma's expression clearly said, 'huh?', even though she was restraining herself from talking.

"However, what she provided came from dark magic. My mother conjured up a candle, one that lit at both ends. As with all magic, it came with a price. In this case, a life for a life. Snow could save her mother but someone else would have to die. She would have to pick someone, light the candle over them, and say their name. They would die and her mother would be healed. Snow didn't want to pay that price, so she decided against it, and soon after her mother died." She paused to let Emma absorb everything she'd said, but it wasn't long enough for Emma to reply. "Flash forward to years later. My mother is in Storybrooke and Gold is on the brink of death. Shortly after you held me at knifepoint –"

"I – "

"I know it was just for show, you don't have to apologize. Shortly after that, my mother felt that something was wrong. For many years she was heartless, you see, and I mean that literally. She removed her own heart and hid it away so she was practically invincible as long as it wasn't in her body. She told me it was in my vault and told me someone was there and told me to go. Guess who I found there?"

Emma was silent.

"That wasn't rhetorical, dear. Take a guess."

"Snow?" That would explain why neither she nor Charming had known where she was.

"Right! By the way, it was my first time setting foot there in a _long _time, just so you know. This is the part where I get tricked. Your mother got me all convinced that if I returned my mother's heart to her body, she could love me properly in all the ways a mother should, in all the ways that she couldn't without her heart. She had me so convinced that I even thought I could have my mother attend our wedding. She had me so convinced that I took the heart and ran back to Gold's shop, shoving it back into her from behind. And I saw _change _Emma. I saw all the potential love she could have had for me flood back into her. For a couple wonderful moments, I had a mother. And then she died, she died in my arms. But before she did, she told me that I would have been enough. Not too long after Snow came running in, telling me to stop, but it was too late."

"She used the candle, didn't she?" Emma asked. "She used the candle to heal Gold and to kill your mother."

"That is _exactly _what she did." Regina had tears rolling down her cheeks, the memory overwhelming her.

Emma closed the distance between them, pulling her into her arms. "God, I'm so sorry," she murmured. "I'm so sorry." It was even worse than she had originally thought. Losing her was bad enough, but losing her after getting a taste of all she'd missed? That was unthinkable. She could imagine Regina felt the same hurt that she herself felt when Henry had nearly died. He'd come back into her life and then less than a year later he was gone, and before he woke up, Emma had felt a part of herself die.

Regina allowed herself to fall apart once more in the comfort of Emma's arms. When she'd nearly destroyed the whole house, the tears she cried had been fueled by anger. But the tears that fell this time were caused purely by the loss she had suffered. The anger she still felt had dulled considerably, because she hadn't allowed herself to properly mourn. She kept pushing the thought away, choosing instead to occupy her time with Emma and Henry. She had started to feel pulled in opposite directions, as the latter was still mad at the former. It was almost like each had taken one of her arms and were now playing tug o' war, determined to split her in half. A part of her wished Emma had just let her be the bad mom, because feeling torn like that was terrible.

"I love you, you know that?"

Regina nodded against her shoulder.

"And you're going to get through this, okay? You're going to get through this and I'm going to be right here with you every step of the way." Emma rubbed her back gently.

Regina's arms were tight around her even after the tears had stopped. "Thank you," she whispered.

"I know you need me now more than ever, of course I'm going to be here. You don't have to thank me. Because it's not a privilege, it's a right."

Regina chuckled softly. "Practicing your vows, are we?"

Emma smiled. "I can throw that in there, if you want." Then a new thought came to her. "So, we're doing individualized vows, then?"

"That's _personalized_, dear."

"Individualized, personalized…same difference. You didn't answer the question."

"Yes, I'd like to do _personalized _vows, if that's alright."

"Alright, we'll do that then." Emma kissed Regina's temple.

"We still haven't picked a date," Regina reminded her.

"Yes, I know. Or a place, or the clothes, or the guest list, if there will be bridesmaids, where to go on our honeymoon, or anything else."

"We really need to start working on this."

"We do," Emma agreed. "Do you think it would be weird if we both wore dresses?"

Regina laughed. "_You, _wear a dress?"

"I've worn them before!"

Regina made her scanning through memories face, but came up with nothing. "Not that I've seen."

"Okay, well maybe I haven't worn them here, but I _have _worn them."

"If you say so."

"And once again, you didn't answer the question."

"I don't really care what you wear."

"_There's _a first!"

Regina threw a glare her way. "I don't care what _you _wear as long as _I _get to wear a dress."

"What if we matched?"

"Oh, dear God, no. No, we are not going to be bridesmaids at our own wedding."

"It might look nice…"

"I said no. No to matching. Absolutely not. No exact matches, no same style matches. Same color is fine."

"Ha, and you said you didn't care what I wear."

"Beyond that, I don't. You could wear a potato sack and I'd be happy."

Emma laughed. "_Really, _now? Would that be because you'd automatically look better than me?"

"No," Regina answered with a roll of her eyes. She flicked Emma's forehead for good measure, then cut her off before she could protest, "I'd be _happy _because it's my wedding day."

"How is it whenever you're about to be in trouble you never make it to the doghouse?"

"Because you love me." She sealed it with a kiss.


	13. Chapter 13

"So, I may be crazy."

"Well _that's _an interesting way to start a conversation," Emma replied, turning to Regina with interest.

"Oh, you'll agree in about two seconds after what I have to say."

"Okay…" Emma's interest was ever increasing.

"So, obviously not yet, not until things have settled down and not until we're married, but we should have a baby," the last six words Regina spoke came out in a rush, running together like one word.

Emma's eyes widened. "Excuse me, what?"

"I mean _I," _Regina folded her hands together over her chest, over her heart. "Want a baby. I want to do the work. Well, not all the work, considering I did everything you missed out on since Henry was three weeks old. You'd obviously have to help. But I want to be able to be pregnant and not lose it, for once."

Somehow, the last sentence stood out more in Emma's mind than anything else, and she pushed everything else aside. "You've been pregnant before?"

"Yeah, Snow almost had a little half-sister, but it ended up being a breech birth and, well, the Enchanted Forest doesn't have as many medical advances as Storybrooke and I almost died with her. I spent a long time wishing I had."

"I…" Emma wondered how a person could even respond to something like that. "Jesus, Regina, I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

"Not many people did."

"You know I can't say no after hearing that."

"I wasn't trying to use it as emotional blackmail, it just…came out."

"No, it's okay…I just… You know I can't say yes either, right? I'm just not that comfortable with the idea yet."

"Maybe's fine. I'll accept maybe."

Emma gave a slight nod. "Maybe, then." She tried to clear her mind but she just couldn't shake the thought. "Wow, I could've had an aunt."

Regina couldn't help the slight laugh that escaped her. "And my own daughter would be my aunt by marriage."

"This is a _really _weird family," Emma said for not the first time. "Marrying my own step-grandmother."

"Hey, I _warned _you but I didn't hear any complaints before you shoved me against that wall and kissed me."

"Actually, I did tell you to shut up, that's kind of a complaint."

"Well you certainly fooled me."

"Really? You looked a bit blank after I kissed you that first time."

"That was my contemplative face. I was trying to figure you out."

"Oh? And how's that coming along?"

"I think I still don't know the half of you."

"Well, here's something. I don't think you're crazy."

"Really?"

"Really. I get your biological clock may be ticking. Not everyone is stupid enough to get knocked up at eighteen."

"I…uh…" Regina looked down, embarrassed.

Emma's eyebrows raised, interpreting Regina's response correctly. "_Seriously, _Regina? _You?_...What…what happened to that one?"

"My mother found out and forced an…uh, I guess you could call it a magical abortion on me. It was going to be a boy."

"What the _hell?" _Emma shook her head. "That is so messed up on so many levels!"

"Now you see why Henry is so important to me."

Emma nodded. "Wow. Damn, Regina, you've been holding back. Any more bombs from the past to drop on me?"

"I'm sure there's plenty."

"And you're just going to keep them hidden away?"

"For now."

"Your life really took the phrase 'life's not fair' seriously."

"Yes, it did."

"No wonder you became the Evil Queen. If I lost two kids and grew up with a mother like Cora, I'd probably be the Evil Queen, too."

"I can't picture you being _any _type of Queen, if I'm honest."

"Gee, thanks. You _do _know you're talking to a princess, right?"

"One who's rejected her heritage time and time again and who was trying to convince me not too long ago that we should flee the country."

"I did not say _flee_. I just said leave."

"To use one of your terms…same difference."

"Wow, look who's using my own words against me! Charmander has evolved into Charizard!"

Regina blinked. "What?"

"Seriously, I know you _had _one, but did you ever watch tv at all? Really, I have to know."

"I watched tv!"

"Oh yeah? Name one show. And it doesn't count if it was something Henry made you watch with him when he was little."

"Downton Abbey."

"What?"

"Downton Abbey… I watched Downton Abbey."

Emma just laughed, sounding very much like a cackle. "I can not even _deal _with you right now, Regina!" Emma kept up the cackling laughter and just walked away, leaving Regina standing alone in the middle of the room confused.

"What's wrong with Downton Abbey?" she mumbled to herself.

Henry came in through the door then.

"Henry," Regina greeted with a smile. "How was school?"

Henry shrugged as he took his backpack off, plopping it down onto the floor. "Fine."

"Really? Just 'fine'?"

"Just fine."

"Well, do you have any homework?"

"No, I finished everything in class."

"Oh." Regina took in a breath. "Henry, you do know you're going to have to talk to Emma eventually, right? You can't just avoid her forever."

"I've managed to so far."

"But it won't last. You probably learned how to hold a grudge from me, but you can't just hold onto it like that. It's not healthy."

"I can and I will until she lets me see my grandmother again."

Regina bit her lip. "That wasn't just _her _idea, you know. It was mine, too. We both decided it was for the best."

"I am so tired of everyone deciding what's best for me without me! This is _my _life."

"Be that as it may, you're still only eleven. You're in fifth grade, Henry. No one makes important decisions in the fifth grade. When you're older you'll understand that."

"They are still family. Isn't family supposed to be more important than anything?"

"It is! Henry, there is a very good reason why we're keeping you away from her."

"Oh yeah? Maybe someone should tell me then, instead of keeping me in the dark like they do with everything else."

"She killed my mother!" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. She wasn't going to tell him, hadn't wanted to tell him. She'd wanted him to keep whatever image he had of her, especially since they were forbidding him to see her. But in the heat of the moment with her irritation at her son increasing, it slipped out. Her eyes widened instantly, horrified at what she'd just done.

Henry shook his head. "No… No, she wouldn't _do _that!"

Regina was torn between convincing him it was true and apologizing for telling him. "Henry…"

"You're lying! You're going back to how you used to be and I _hate _it!"

Regina felt her chest clench painfully at those words. "Henry, I'm not –"

"Stop it! Just stop!"

"Emma!" Regina called.

No more than five seconds later, Emma returned to the room. "Regina, what - ?" She took in the expressions on both their faces. "What's going on?" she asked, the words drawn out slowly.

"Tell him it's true."

"Regina, I –"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. I didn't want to tell him, it just slipped out. So tell him it's true."

Emma looked over to Henry. "It's true," she told him in the gentlest voice she could manage. She knew he was still angry at her and probably didn't believe her, but Regina had requested her help.

Henry shook his head again. "No. You probably _don't _know what she's talking about."

"She's talking about Snow killing her mother, right?" she asked, her tone still soft.

"Okay, fine. You know what she's talking about. But did you _see _it? Did you actually _see _it happen?"

Emma faltered. "No, but I –"

"Then you can't prove it! How do you know she's not lying?" Henry cocked his head at Regina.

Just like that, Regina felt herself knocked back into the role of the bad mother. She felt that painful clench in her chest again.

"Because she's not, kid. That's not the kind of thing you go around lying about."

"Wouldn't be the first time she's lied about _exactly _this kind of thing."

Of course, both women knew exactly what he was referring to. It was a sore subject they had worked past, and it was one they didn't particularly care to revisit.

"That was different," Emma insisted. "That wasn't her mother and she…she's not the same person she was then."

"Yet the same person is blamed."

"Just a coincidence," Emma replied. "That's all, Henry. This time she really did do it. Don't you ever wonder why we're here?"

Henry was silent.

"Regina was so upset she destroyed the house. Is that what liars do?"


	14. Chapter 14

"I don't think I can do this," Regina sat on one of the bed, drawing her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them.

"What's that?" Emma asked. She was sitting next to her, legs crossed in an elementary school sitting position.

"Handle Henry hating me again. I can't…it's too much." Her head dropped so her chin rested against her knees.

Emma almost told her that it would be easier to get through this time, because she had her, but she stopped herself. Last time Regina may not have had her, but she hadn't lost her mother, either. That meant it was probably going to be harder getting through this time. She ran a gentle hand in soothing circles along her back. "You've got me."

Regina looked over to her. "I know."

They remained silent for a few minutes.

Regina broke the silence with a groan as she released her legs, her arms falling to her sides, fingers curling into fists with nails digging into her palms. Her legs flopped unceremoniously onto the bed. "Whoever decided that women must go through torturous cramps every month should be executed!" She curled into a ball on her side, trying to alleviate the pain. It didn't help much; her stomach was still twisted in knots. Normally she could just push through it, even ignore it, but her nerves weren't helping matters.

Emma frowned. "Do you want me to go out and get you something?" She brushed a few strands of hair out of Regina's face. "Midol, maybe?"

Regina shook her head. "No, stay."

"You're not exactly doing a fabulous job of ignoring it. It's okay to need help with it sometimes."

Regina grabbed one of her hands. "Just stay."

Emma sighed. "Regina, you look miserable…"

Regina tightened her grip on Emma's hand. "Don't…"

Emma relented, knowing she couldn't leave if Regina wanted her to stay so badly. "Okay. I'm not going anywhere."

No more than a minute later, however, Emma's cell phone rang.

Exchanging a curious with look with Regina, Emma leaned over and swiped her phone off the end table. She glanced at the caller ID and quickly became annoyed. She rolled her eyes and put it back on the end table. "Not important," she huffed. She settled next to Regina once again, not failing to notice the relief on the brunette's face, knowing she was grateful she didn't have to leave.

However, the phone rang again shortly after.

"Ignore it." Emma stroked Regina's cheek. "It'll stop eventually." She continued stroking Regina's cheek for a few moments before leaning in to press a soft kiss to her lips.

Regina returned it eagerly, happy for something else to concentrate on.

Just as it broke, the phone rang for a third time.

Emma growled her irritation. "Oh, for the love of - !" She snatched up the phone once more. "What?" she snapped.

Emma was surprised to hear that it was Charming's voice who greeted her on the other end, not Snow as she had thought, "Emma…"

"Look, if this is about Henry –"

"It's not."

Emma's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "David, why are you calling me from Mary Margaret's phone?"

She heard a shaky breath on the other line, sounding a lot like one a crying person would take. "She's hurt."

Emma sighed in frustration. "Yeah, well –"

"No, I mean she's _hurt_. She's in the hospital."

Emma's eyes went wide. "What happened?"

"I'm not entirely sure. But do you think you can push the Cora issue aside long enough to come see her? She's still your mother."

"Ow! Emma, you're going to break my hand," came Regina's hissed whisper.

Until that moment, Emma hadn't even realized she was squeezing Regina's hand so hard. She tried to relax her grip.

She swallowed hard. "I…" She glanced over to Regina. "Regina needs me," she replied in a small voice.

"I think the woman in the hospital bed needs you more," his reply came out in a voice that was slightly harsher than usual.

Emma closed her eyes, knowing she'd already been guilt tripped into it. "I'll be right over." She hung up and let the phone slide out of her fingers.

"What is it?" Regina asked softly.

"She's in the hospital."

"Snow?"

Emma nodded.

"What happened?"

"He doesn't know." Emma opened her eyes once more. "I have to go see her." She expected Regina to protest or fight it, but instead she replied,

"So go."

"You'll be okay?"

"I'm not five. I can take care of myself when you're away."

"That wasn't your tune a few minutes ago."

"A few menstrual cramps won't land me in a hospital bed, Emma. So go."

Emma sighed. "If Henry even asks, don't tell him where I am."

"And what should I tell him? If he asks."

"Tell him work called me in, that I went to patrol, something."

"Okay." Regina squeezed her hand gently.

"Call me if you need me." Emma pressed a kiss to Regina's lips. "Call me and I'll come right back," she murmured.

Regina gave her a small smile. "Go on." She gestured the door by tilting her head in its direction.

Emma nodded and got up from the bed, picking up her phone and pocketing it. She paused to press a kiss to the top of Regina's head, then she shrugged on her trusty red jacket and left their Granny's Bed and Breakfast room.

A few minutes after Emma left, Regina managed to fall asleep. She welcomed it gratefully, because her abdominal pain couldn't reach her in the depths of sleep.

Emma bit her inner cheek as she drove to the hospital, fighting off the tears that wanted to rush to her eyes. She'd only seen Snow once after Regina had told her she'd killed her mother, and that had only been to tell her that she wasn't welcome at the wedding and that Henry would no longer be able to see her. She couldn't help but think this was some form of karma. Snow had killed Cora and now she was paying the price, it sure seemed that way. All magic has a price, after all, and that candle was definitely magic.

Emma shook her head. She needed a distraction. She turned the car radio on, and was immediately greeted with Gwen Stefani's voice singing the lyrics to No Doubt's Don't speak. Emma grinned, immediately transported back to her teenage years. This was exactly the kind of music she'd listened to. She sang along until the song changed, and then sang along to the next one, and kept doing so, knowing every song that played, until she finally reached the hospital.

As she parked, she realized she was finding herself at the hospital more often than she liked. That first major time was when she'd broken the curse when it was Henry in that bed, and then she herself had been in a bed, and then she had to take Regina to get stitches, and then once again to get that piece of glass out of her eye. Now she found herself at the hospital again, and it was now her mother that was the patient. That was five times within the span of two years, and it certainly felt like five too many.

She almost wished that Regina would call before she could reach the door, so she could turn back around and not have to face what was waiting for her. She didn't know what condition she'd find Snow in at all. She didn't know whether or not she'd be awake. And she didn't know what had happened that put her there.

Alas, no such call came, so Emma had to walk inside and face the music. When she reached the waiting room, she saw that her father was still there. "Here I am," she couldn't think of a better way to alert him to her presence.

In a second, Charming was out of his chair and had pulled his daughter into an embrace that she awkwardly returned. There weren't many hugs that the two of them exchanged. In fact, she realized with wonder, the person she hugged the most was Regina. When she'd first arrived in this town, the only person she hugged was Henry. Even after befriending Mary Margaret, there wasn't much hugging between them. After the curse had broken, that hadn't changed much. She especially wasn't used to such affection from her father, not for her anyway. It seemed like something that was reserved for Snow, and it felt odd to find it directed to her instead.

"So, how is she?" Emma asked as she pulled away. "You never told me what condition she's in."

"She has moments of wakefulness, but they don't seem to last very long. She kept asking for you, though, so I decided to attempt breaking that wall you've built against us."

Emma sighed. "Can you really blame me? What she did, it…it wasn't okay. I don't care what horrible things Cora did, she was still Regina's mother. As much as I appreciate the fact that I won't have to have her as my mother-in-law, there were better ways. And I know that you have nothing to do with it, and that it's unfair that you're also being punished, but you two are a package deal. Just like Regina and I. It would be hard to allow Henry to see you without Mary Margaret seeing him, too."

"Package deal, huh? So where's Regina now?"

"It would be pushing it if I brought her here, I'm pretty sure. Something tells me that even if Mary Margaret got the opportunity to apologize, she wouldn't. I don't think she regrets what she did, and if she does regret something, it's only regret for _how _she did it. It's amazing enough Regina didn't fight me leaving. I thought she would, but she only encouraged me to go. I think it's because she understands that no matter what she's done, she's still my mother, and that it would hurt if I lost her. In fact, I think she understands that better than anyone." Emma sighed. "So, am I allowed to see her? Is it even visiting hours?"

"You're the Sheriff, engaged to the Mayor, I'm pretty sure they'll make an exception."

Emma nodded, considering that to be a yes. "Show me to her room."


	15. Chapter 15

When Emma walked into the room, her mother was out like a light in the hospital bed. She took a seat in a chair that was nearby. "This is not okay, you know," she just started talking. "Something happening to you after what you did to Cora. Perhaps this is your payback. Life's a bitch and then you die, right?" She leaned forward so her face was only inches away from her mother's. "You don't get to do that. Whatever happens, you do _not _get to give in. Whether you're there in person or not, you will live to see me marry Regina, damn it. And sometime, I don't care how long it takes, but sometime, somehow, you and Regina will make amends. Because I refuse to live a life where my wife and mother hate each other. We can't keep Henry away from you forever, I know that and I think Regina does, too. What you did is not okay, nor do I expect it will ever be forgiven. You're going to have to work very hard to smooth things over with Regina, but you're going to do it. And you know why you're going to? Because that's what's best for me. And isn't that what you've wanted to do ever since the curse broke? What's best for me? Well, now you don't have to ask yourself what that is anymore, I just told you." Ending her monologue, Emma picked up the hand that was closest to her. She was going to stay put until either she woke up so she could repeat what she just said, or until it got too late for her to be there.

Emma wanted to know what the hell happened. From what she could see, there weren't any physical injuries. Though that was hardly saying anything, because she was covered in blankets from her chest down. No one just ended up in a hospital bed for no reason. If there was nothing physical, Emma couldn't think of what it could be that landed her there. There were only two people that had the magical ability to do just about everything in the books, but it didn't seem like either of them would've done it. Regina was on a complete magic rehabilitation mission and Gold, well, Gold had his life thanks to her. Even if he had done something, he wouldn't be so sloppy. If Gold wanted harm to come to her, he would have just killed her. He only toyed with people when they were useful to him, that's what Regina had told her, and Emma couldn't think of how her mother could possibly be of any use to him anymore.

Emma reached her other hand out to stroke her mother's cheek gently. "You get better, you hear me? You get better." Her vision blurred and she felt something wet drop onto her arm. Lately she was doing her best to stay strong for Regina. Only one of them could breakdown at a time, she figured, or else neither of them would be able to crawl up from that hole. In fact, Emma couldn't remember crying since she'd told her parents of her engagement a few months ago. Perhaps she was overdue, because she chose to let it go then. She figured if she just let it happen, she'd be able to pull herself together by the time she got back so she could continue to be strong for Regina.

It was maybe fifteen minutes later when a small voice grabbed her attention, "Emma?"

Emma's head snapped up. "Mom?"

Lo and behold, her mother's brown eyes were looking right at her. There was a soft smile on her lips due to finally being addressed with a parental pronoun. "You're here."

"Yeah, I am." Emma wiped her eyes. "Even though I shouldn't be, and neither should you."

Those brown eyes looked downwards as something like shame crossed her features.

"You didn't… Whatever got you here; you didn't do it to yourself, did you?" Sometimes Emma wondered if her entire family was a group of masochists.

"I don't… I don't think so."

"You don't _think _so? Either you did or you didn't."

"I don't… Emma, I don't know."

That sent a spark of alarm spreading through Emma. "Mom, what's the last thing you remember?"

"I remember… I remember taking Henry to the hospital to wake you up, and it worked, and then we kept him for the night, brought him back to Regina's the next morning, and you told us you two are together."

Emma felt her heart sink. "Mom, that was _months _ago." She raised her left hand into view. "Regina and I…we're engaged now."

"Oh… When-When did that happen?"

"Over a month after that."

"How long have you two been together, then?"

"We just had our first anniversary not too long ago." Emma shook her head, in awe at how well Snow was taking the news this time around. Her worry was ever increasing, however, because her mother had lost at least half a year of her memory, perhaps more. She knew the events of that day well, but she was never a hundred percent with dates.

"A year? Wow."

"Listen, I think I'm going to go find Dr. Whale. I'll send Dad in though, okay?"

Snow only nodded.

Emma leaned forward and kissed her forehead before standing up and leaving the room. She gestured to her father to go in, but not before telling her, "She's lost quite a bit of memory. She doesn't remember what she did. I'm going to see if I can find Dr. Whale."

Charming nodded, not looking very surprised, and headed into the room.

Emma looked around until she, finally, found Dr. Whale. "We have a problem."

"I'm very aware that your mother –"

"No," Emma cut him off. "Did you realize she's lost at least half a year of memory? David told me that she's been wavering in and out of consciousness, and that she's always been asking for me, but he failed to leave out that little detail. Did you know?"

"She never said anything before that indicated she has amnesia," was his reply.

"Well, she did to me. You want to know what she said when I asked her what the last thing she remembered was?"

Dr. Whale nodded.

"The day she told me about was the day after Henry woke me up from my coma."

"_Oh."_

"Yeah. 'Oh'." Emma shook her head. "I don't know whether or not to tell you to fix it or to tell you to make sure she doesn't remember."

Dr. Whale tilted his head to the side. "Why's that, Miss Swan?"

"Because she did something very bad that I don't want her to remember."

"Well, I'm sorry, but there's no way to do either of those things. Amnesia works differently for everyone. Sometimes the memory lost returns in bits and pieces, sometimes it returns all at once, but sometimes it never returns at all."

Emma sighed. "Well, that's just perfect," she replied sarcastically. "I think I'm going to leave now. Call me if anything changes."

"Will do, Miss Swan."

The door to the room at Granny's Bed and Breakfast banged open, hitting the wall and startling Regina from the sleep she'd fallen into.

"Emma…?"

Emma slammed the door closed so hard it rattled in its frame.

Regina sat up. "Okay, Emma, come here. What's wrong?"

Emma shrugged her jacket off and threw it onto the floor before joining Regina on the bed.

Regina looped her arms around Emma's waist, pulling her backwards until her back was resting against her chest. "What happened?" She pressed a soft kiss to where Emma's shoulder and neck connected.

"She doesn't know what she did anymore, Regina."

"What?" Regina gently propped her chin up over Emma's shoulder.

"She forgot everything. Everything that happened since the day after I came out of the coma. Whatever it was that put her in the hospital gave her amnesia."

Regina kissed her neck gently. "That's…complicated."

"Tell me about it. On the one hand I really don't want her to remember, but on the other hand I do because it was only one event in at least half a year that I to stay forgotten. This really isn't fair to David, he was already being punished enough by not getting to see Henry, and now the person he loves most has forgotten everything they did together for such a long time. If it were one of us we would've forgotten half of our relationship and the fact that we're engaged now. This just sucks no matter which way I look at it, I can't even be happy that she forgot what she did to Cora because you still remember. And Henry, god, she won't even know why we're keeping him away from her. And even if we stop keeping him away, Henry will know something's wrong and if he figures out what it will be hard on _him _and I just can't take care of everyone at the same time."

"No one expects you to take care of everyone."

"Who else is going to? I'm a parent; parents take care of their kids. I'm a fiancée, and fiancées take care of their partners. I'm a daughter; daughters take care of their parents. See where I'm going with this?"

"You're a person and sometimes people take breaks."

Emma sighed and closed her eyes. "The answer is yes, by the way."

"What?"

"You want a baby, let's have one."

"Emma-"

"Life's too short and filled with unexpected crap to just keep waiting for the perfect time, because there's simply no such thing as the perfect time. So let's do whatever we have to do to have ourselves a baby."

"Emma, maybe you should just sleep on this a while longer. I don't want this to be a decision you regret."

Emma turned in her arms so that she was facing her. "I will never regret making you happy."

"And what about you? Will it make _you _happy?"

"Getting to witness everything I missed out on after giving Henry away? That would make me _extremely _happy."

Regina hugged her tightly. "I knew there was a reason why I fell for you."

"What, you mean it wasn't my dashing good looks?" Emma teased as she pulled back.

"That may have also had something to do with it..."

Emma closed the distance between them once more, kissing Regina deeply. Somehow the very woman that had once infuriated her to no end was now the only person capable of calming her down. "I love you," she murmured against her lips. "And I'll never stop." 


	16. Chapter 16

Regina and Emma sat together on the green couch of a room in a special branch of the hospital, the purpose having become so popular it had earned itself a building of its own. They were flipping through the huge book of donors that sat on the table in front of them. Each page had a picture and almost every detail one could think of, bar their names, as if that granted them anonymity. Age, BMI, blood type, medical history, family medical history, even ancestry covered the pages in front of them.

"No," Regina stated after scanning through their current page. She turned to the next one.

"No," Emma did the same.

"Definitely not," they spoke in unison at the next page that greeted them. They looked at each other in surprise and shared a small fit of laughter.

They flipped through countless pages, it seemed, until Regina reached out and tapped the picture of one of the pages. "That one."

Emma leaned forward to get a better look. "I thought you wanted brown eyes. His are a bit…gray."

"Oh, that's just one detail. One I'm capable of living without. His genetics are great." Regina continued scanning the information in front of her. She let out a short laugh. "Even has the same blood type. I think this is as close to perfect as we're going to get. And hey, he _is _blonde."

"Okay, and he's not too hard on the eyes…"

Regina swatted her shoulder.

"What? I was just saying. Come on, two good looking people together…that kid's going to be gorgeous."

"_If _ it works," Regina reminded her. There was always the possibility that it wouldn't, that was the risk with procedures like these.

"It'll work," Emma assured her. "They take like five eggs or so, and not all of them will be fertilized. Probably like two, maybe three, will make it past the observation period and then one or two of them will stick it out and wait to meet us. But remember they're going to drive your eggs crazy for a week or two first, before they take them."

"You actually read up on this, didn't you?"

"Why do you sound surprised? If my fiancée is going to get pregnant by this process, I'm damn well going to know how it works. Besides that, this is expensive as hell. Even more reason to know what _your _money is going into." The 'your' was emphasized because Regina absolutely refused to have Emma help pay for any of it. It was well over $12,000, and while Emma thought that was a ridiculous price for Regina to pay on her own, Regina was insistent. Honestly, Emma was surprised that they didn't just take the simpler, magical route. It seemed, though, that Regina was truly determined not to use any kind of magic after the Cora incident. Not even the good kind.

"Well I apologize in advance for any extra bitchiness that may occur during these next nine or ten months," Regina replied, now assured that the process would indeed work.

"That's the spirit!" Emma wrapped an arm around her and pressed a kiss to her cheek. She looked back at the book. "So, you're one hundred percent confident in this guy and his sperm?"

Regina snorted. "Eloquent, as always."

"Well?"

"Yes."

"A thousand percent?"

"Emma."

"Regina."

"Despite the illogical use of that number, yes, a thousand percent. Happy?"

"This is important, I just want you to be sure."

"I swear, if you go up to a million percent I'm going to make you walk all the way back to Granny's alone."

Emma held up her hands. "Alright, alright. Spare me the agony, Madame Mayor."

Regina cocked an eyebrow at her. "Very well, Sheriff Swan."

"So." Emma bumped Regina's shoulder with her own. "Ready to get your drugs?" she asked as if they were feeding some addiction instead of trying to make a baby, throwing in some eyebrow waggling for good measure.

Regina scoffed as she got to her feet. "You're incorrigible."

"But you love me!" Emma sing-songed as she got to her feet as well, picking up the heavy book of donors they'd been provided with. "Jesus Christ, Mary, and Joseph this is heavy!"

"Don't break your back, dear," Regina replied with a smirk.

Emma rolled her eyes as she followed her along so they could alert the staff that their decision had been made.

It was another half hour before they left, as the staff working with them was inclined to make them aware of the potential side affects of the fertility drugs, as well as give them a run down of the whole process even though they already had a decent idea. They were told to mark a calendar because Regina would need to come back on the eighth day that the drugs were in her system, and if the eggs were not ready for extraction by then, that she would need to come back each day until they were, which they were told should only take fourteen days at the most.

"Be prepared to be treated like a queen," Emma told Regina as she ushered her back into the car.

"Why, are you going to be my White Knight?"

Emma smirked as she got into the driver's side. "In shining armor."

"Cute."

"I'm actually excited for this," Emma stated as she put her seatbelt on. "For being someone who was iffy about this at first, I'm impressing even myself."

Regina shook her head as she too put her seatbelt on. "I don't know _how _you got me to change my mind about doing this after marriage."

"Well I, for one, think you'll make an adorable pregnant bride."

"Really? So you're saying you want to get married within the next nine months?"

"I'm _saying _I want our kid to be there, in some form, and I think it would be adorable, years down the line, to tell them that they were there and point them out in our wedding photo."

Regina smiled as she felt tears swim in her eyes. "Stop that, you're giving me feelings."

Emma laughed. "As you wish, Your Majesty." She pulled out of the parking space and started the drive back.

After a few minutes, Regina asked, "What are we going to do about Henry?"

"Let's just wait until there's actually something to tell. On the off chance this doesn't work, Henry shouldn't expect something that won't happen."

Regina nodded. That was simple enough. "And what about Snow?"

Emma groaned. "I can't even think properly when it comes to her. There's always cons to every solution I come up with and never enough pros."

Regina reached over and patted Emma's knee. "Something will work out."

"Really? Care to enlighten me on how? I'm a complete fish out of water, here."

Regina sighed. "I'm not exactly an expert; I was just trying to be supportive. I know this isn't easy on you.

"I know, I know… I just wish there was some big fix it button you could press when things get too hard."

"That sounds like a gamble."

"Don't dissect my logic, I know it's faulty at best."

"I – Okay." Regina found there wouldn't be much point to explaining what she'd meant. "New topic?"

"Yes, please."

"My birthday's coming up."

"Is it really? I don't remember you telling me last year."

"I didn't. We weren't where we are now."

"I told you when my birthday was."

"Only because you met me the day after." Regina rose a taunting eyebrow in Emma's direction.

Emma smirked. "Well, happy birthday to me."

Regina laughed. "I'm running out of condescending adjectives to describe you."

"Shall I get you a dictionary so you can find more?"

Regina rolled her eyes. "How very Emma Swan of you."

Now it was Emma's turn to laugh. "You can't use my own name as an adjective, and definitely not one that's condescending."

"I could always go back to Miss Swan…"

"Don't you dare! Do you want me to start calling you Miss Mills?" Emma challenged.

"Mm, no, but you can call me Miss Swan, if you like."

Emma glanced over and was greeted with the most ridiculously wide grin she'd ever seen on Regina's face. "Feelings," she warned as she returned her eyes to the road.

"Consider that payback."

"Oh, is this a game now?" Emma smirked. That would certainly be an interesting way to banter. "Instead of yelling we see how long it takes to crack under the pressure of feelings?"

"Your move," Regina chirped, confirming their new game with an ode to the one that had long since ended.

Emma chuckled. "Oh, it's on."

"So," Emma started as they got out of the car. "How long can we keep on handing out money to keep this room? It's been weeks; shouldn't we be trying to salvage the house?"

Regina smirked. "You do a terrible job of keeping tabs on me, dear."

"What's _that _supposed to mean?"

"It means that I've been working on it."

Emma froze mid-step on the stairs. "What?" her voice clearly showed her surprise. "How do you even have _time _for that?"

"You didn't honestly think I meant _Mayoral _work when I said I was working through lunch, did you?"

"Well, considering that _is _your job, that's exactly what I thought you meant."

Regina shrugged. "You thought wrong."

Not too much later they were in their Granny's Bed and Breakfast room.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"The look on your face. Surprising you has quite a few perks."

"Oh? And what are some of these other perks?"

Regina smirked. "Those are for me to know."

"And me to never find out?"

"Oh, you'll know." Regina stepped close to her, seriously invading her personal space.

"And how, may I ask, is that?"

Regina chuckled and closed the ever shrinking space between them, locking their lips together.

Emma made an appreciative noise and looped her arms around Regina's waist, drawing her closer yet. "How many hours do we have until Henry's out of school?" she murmured against her lips.

Regina hummed against her lips in response and turned her head away, only to look at the clock. "Three hours," she purred before returned her lips to Emma's.

"Mm…" Emma tightened her arms around her. "I can live with that." She let out a surprised cry when Regina pulled her, quite unceremoniously, onto one of the beds. "Someone's insatiable today."

"Are you really going to analyze me for the next three hours?" Regina asked, showing off a perfect little pout.

Emma situated herself quickly so that she hovered over Regina, legs on either side of her body. "Oh yes," she answered. "I will most definitely be _analyzing _you for the next three hours." Those last two words were purred with purpose before their lips met once more. 

**Author's Note: I have a picture of the donor, ask and ye shall receive!**


	17. Chapter 17

The fertility drugs Regina was taking had certainly heightened her emotions. There were pros and cons that came with it, and the current moment definitely fit under the con section. It made her even less capable to deal with Henry's hostility, and it made her question a lot about herself.

"He'll get over it," Emma promised as she held her overly emotional fiancée in her arms. Despite Emma's rather smart idea to not tell Henry anything yet, the knowledge was eating Regina up to the point where she caved in and told him what they were planning. He hadn't taken it well.

"He thinks we're replacing him…" Regina burrowed her face even further into Emma's chest.

Emma frowned, glad Regina couldn't see it. She understood where the kid was coming from, their timing wasn't exactly ideal. And Emma definitely knew what it was like to be replaced. When she was three, just old enough to start getting attached to people, the family that had decided to adopt her changed their mind in favor of having a child of their own. "I'll make sure he understands that we're not," she murmured. "It'll be alright." She stroked her hair.

"What did I do wrong? All I ever tried to do was live him…"

"You didn't do _anything _wrong, sweetheart," Emma insisted. "You've done all you can. He's not acting like this because you raised him that way, and I doubt it's any more than a phase."

"I should've done better…"

"Regina, look at me." Emma gently tilted her head up by her chin so she could look into her teary eyes. "You've done your best. That's all anyone can ask for. Even when I didn't like you, I knew you were an amazing mom. Far better than I could've been for him as a mere teenager. And that is still true. The only thing that's changed is that now I know everything else about you is amazing, too."

"God, I love you," Regina whispered.

Emma gave her a small smile. "I love you, too." She cupped Regina's cheeks and gently brushed the tears away with her fingers. "Now, are you going to be okay?"

Regina gave a small nod.

"Good." Emma kissed her softly. "Now, how about I go and get us some ice cream and rent a movie. Would you like that?"

Regina thought a moment, then nodded again.

"Okay." Emma pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'll be back."

Emma was surprised to find apple pie flavored ice cream in the freezer of the store she went to, but it really couldn't have been more perfect. Apples were just Regina's thing, plain and simple. She even smelled like apples due to body wash and shampoo. Emma wouldn't honestly be surprised if Regina had some apple scented perfume lying around somewhere. After spotting the apple pie flavored ice cream, she knew there really wasn't any other option. That was the easy part. The harder part was trying to find a movie in the Redbox that both of them would like. It was even harder as most of the movies available were horror movies, and that certainly wasn't something Regina needed at the moment. Then, finally, she came upon Les Misérables and decided to take a gamble on it. It was a period piece, as was Downton Abbey, so she figured it would do the trick. Even if it was a musical that was over two hours long. It was better than the 2013 version of Texas Chainsaw Massacre or movies involving exorcism, giant spiders, zombies, or complicated marriages.

Once both the ice cream and the movie were purchased, Emma returned to her car and made the drive back.

"Well, the movie may not be perfect, but I think I did pretty good on the ice cream," she announced as she walked back into their room. She sat the bag with the ice cream down on the coffee table to let Regina discover for herself what it was.

Regina raised a curious eyebrow and walked over to the table, pushing the plastic of the bag down until she could clearly see the label. The smile that grew on her face was worth a trip to Jupiter and back. "You know me well," she praised.

"I don't know if you've even seen a musical before, but I hope you like them. It was better than any of the horror options." Emma sat the movie on the coffee table as well.

The non-descript cover that was the trademark of Redbox made it hard for Regina to make much out of it. However, when she opened it, the DVD itself had the title on it. She tilted her head as she tried to make sense of it. "Is that…French?"

"Yeah, but the movie's in English. It just has a French title because that's where it takes place. And it's named after the book it was based off of."

"Oh. Okay, yeah, that should work." She put the movie down in favor of taking the ice cream into the small kitchen area to get it into a couple of bowls and then put the rest in the freezer before it decided to melt. "The house is almost ready, by the way," she announced as she served up the ice cream.

"Really?" Emma asked, surprised.

"Really," Regina confirmed with an affirmative nod. "It's a bit more basic now than it was before."

"Really? _You _basic?"

"Well, it has to be safe for small children, does it not? It's bad enough that there are stairs, but since I can't really do anything about that, now there's carpets."

Emma blinked. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with Regina?"

"I _am _capable of accommodating my tastes, you know."

"Yeah, but usually it's accommodating things to fit your tastes, not accommodating your tastes to fit things."

"You say potato…"

Emma shook her head. "Okay, so define almost."

"A week, maybe a week and a half."

Emma nodded. "Okay, I'll take that. I don't want you working ridiculously hard when you're pregnant. Which I'm sure tackling the house _alone _qualifies as."

"_If _ I get pregnant at all."

"Regina, stop worrying. So it's the twelfth day you've been on the fertility drugs, so what? They said it could take up to fourteen days. Your eggs could very well be ready tomorrow. So just relax, get your ice cream and watch this movie with me."

Only a minute later Regina finished putting the ice cream into the bowls and had the rest put in the freezer. She grabbed the bowls and plopped down next to Emma on one of the beds as the blonde worked on setting the movie up.

Thirty seconds into the movie, Regina stated, "This is weird."

Emma laughed. "Geez! Give it a chance."

Regina was affectively shut up, not because of Emma, but because after her first bite of the ice cream she decided it was the best thing she'd ever tasted and wanted to savor it.

_"Now Prisoner 24601, your time is up and your parole's begun. You know what that means?"_

_"Yes. It means I'm free."_

_"No! Follow to the letter your itinerary, this badge of shame, you'll show until you die. It warns you're a dangerous man."_

_"I stole a loaf of bread! My sister's child was close to death, we were starving."_

_"You will starve again. Unless you learn the meaning of the law."_

_"I know the meaning of those nineteen years, a slave of the law!"_

_"Five years for what you did, the rest because you tried to run. Yes, 24601!"_

Regina let out a laugh. "Five years? For stealing bread? And then fourteen more for running? And people thought _I _was bad. That's just ridiculous."

"Hush!" Emma was actually trying to pay attention to the movie.

_"My name is Jean Valjean."_

_"And I am Javert! Do not forget my name! Do not forget me, 24601."_

Regina still stood by her statement that it was a weird movie, but weird didn't mean it wouldn't be interesting, so she trained her eyes on the screen once more.

When the scene changed to the factory and most of the women ganged up against a woman seemingly harmless, both Emma and Regina found themselves tensing.

"What the hell is wrong with supporting your kid?" Regina couldn't keep her reaction in her head. "This movie makes no sense."

And then what the poor woman had to do to earn money when she was kicked out of her job, that didn't sit well with either of them.

"What the _fuck_, that's horrible!" Emma exclaimed.

"This movie is making me really not like France," Regina replied.

"Hold on that…did that prisoner make himself the mayor?"

"Smart move. It's what I did."

Emma looked over to her. "You were Queen."

"Doesn't mean I wasn't a prisoner."

Emma blinked a couple times, looking over to her. "Okay, that's a story for later." She turned back to the screen.

"…I think she's gonna die." It may not be a horror movie, but Regina was finding it horrifying in its own right. Even if everyone singing everything cushioned the blow.

"I think you're right." It wasn't surprising to Emma, really, what with all the diseases there were back then with very little medical knowledge available to them.

"This is so messed up. Men always having the upper hand is absurd."

"Be glad you wound up in the twenty-first century instead of the nineteenth."

And then the scene they both knew was coming happened and they both found themselves with tears in their eyes. Knowing it was one thing, seeing it was another, and the _way _it happened was enough to push anyone over that emotional cliff.

"Your move," Emma whispered.

Regina laughed at the reference to their emotional game. "Yes, this definitely counts as yours."

Emma hadn't intended a bunch of feelings to be thrown at them by the movie, but it certainly did the job.

"That must be the kid," Regina stated when a scraggly looking girl appeared on the screen.

"Wow, that voice…" That girl could definitely sing.

They both jumped when her song was cut off by what seemed to be the wicked stepmother of the piece.

Shortly after, however, Regina laughed. "Oh, that poor woman's hair…"

"Obviously she can't take care of _anything,"_ Emma replied. She shook her head. "Wow, what a bitch."

Regina snorted when she woke up her husband who was passed out next to a barrel of alcohol. "Good lord, he's a mess, too."

When Jean Valjean found the girl, one of his lines made both women burst with laughter: _"Don't hide, show me where you live."_

"That's really creepy," Emma stated between laughter. "But I really needed that." The movie was so emotionally torturous that she gladly accepted the scraps of humor it threw at her.

"He's…what, _really? _Now they're playing the protective parents? Seriously? Not that buying a child isn't very weird, but anyone can see they don't give a damn about her."

"Yeah, they don't even know her name! Okay, well, she does, but he doesn't."

Regina shook her head. "And now they're trying to milk _more _money out of him? These people are ridiculous. Everyone in this town should watch this movie if only for it to show them that there are worse people than me out there."

"Regina, this movie isn't real…"

"So? I still think it proves my point."

Emma chuckled and for the rest of the movie they remained relatively silent, if not of their own will then because the emotional torment got worse and completely crushed their will to speak. Hardly anyone made it out of the movie alive and the two wound up curled into each other on the bed, harshly reminded of their own mortality as tears ran down their cheeks.

The credits ran and they still didn't move, wanting only to hold onto each other.


	18. Chapter 18

Their lives seemed to have an odd sense of balance. If something bad happened, something good was soon to follow and if something good happened, something bad was soon to follow. It was like being on a 'Ring of Fire' rollercoaster, looping endlessly, and eventually making the passengers dizzy. Two days after the successful extraction of Regina's eggs to be fertilized, Henry fell ill with the flu. Regina thought it was karma's idea of cruel and unusual punishment, but Emma was quick to drill that idea out of her head and replace it with the fact that it _was _that time of year.

"Not everyone that catches the flu is going to get full blown pneumonia," Emma insisted. "I've had the flu plenty of times, including once while I was pregnant with Henry. I turned out just fine, and the time while pregnant could've been dangerous, but it didn't complicate the pregnancy either. The kid's gonna be fine. It might be a couple days or a couple weeks before he gets better, but he's going to be _fine_."

Regina sighed. "I'm going overboard, aren't I?"

"Yes," Emma replied with a relieved sigh that it took a relatively short amount of time for Regina to realize that. "I mean, I know he's been sick before, considering how you flaunted how much I'd missed in his life that you'd been there for, and I'm pretty sure you mentioned soothing fevers. I'm pretty sure it's impossible for someone that's twelve years old to have never gotten sick. It's just part of life, and it won't be the last time he's sick, either."

"I think I'm still – Those fertility drugs probably haven't worn off yet."

"Yeah, well, I'm prepared for stormy seas for the next nine months anyway. Having some practice couldn't hurt."

"You're counting my concerns over Henry as _practice?"_

"My case in point. Calm down there, tiger. You're going to be an uncontrollable ball of emotion pretty soon, so I'll take my victories where I can get them."

Regina rolled her eyes.

"And look at the bright side. Henry can't avoid us when he needs us, right? So every bowl of alphabet soup and every bowl of ice cream, every hour of tv he gets to watch will bring us that much closer to him letting us in again. It's kind of hard to be sick and angry, I've tried."

"I hate it when you're smart."

Emma laughed. "Want me to go get drunk, then? I'm not very smart when I'm inebriated."

"Nope. I'm not dealing with a drunken Emma when we need to take care of our kid."

"It's going to be a long time before I have a drink, then, because I'm not gonna have anything you can't have while you're pregnant."

"Including common sense?" It was too good for Regina to resist.

"No, I'll be keeping that, thank you. But I'll drop everything else. Even coffee."

Regina blinked in surprise. "I forgot that was something one's supposed to stop having while pregnant."

"Well, in your defense, it's been a while. But yes, caffeine is frowned upon during pregnancy. Drove me crazy, but then again I was in jail for most of that time anyway."

Henry called to them from the smaller second room that branched off the main room.

They both made it into the room and sat next to him on either side of the bed, ready to give him whatever he needed.

"My head hurts."

Regina brought the back of her hand to his forehead. She couldn't tell if it was warmer than it had been before or if it had stayed the same, so she got up to retrieve the thermometer from the bathroom. "I'll be right back," she promised.

"What do you think will make it better?" Emma murmured, stroking the side of his face. "Want some ice water? If you think you can keep it down, that is." There was a garbage can permanently beside the bed ever since he first started showing symptoms, one that had to be emptied frequently. His nausea seemed to come in waves where some hours were better than others, but they were never consistent.

Before Henry could answer, Regina returned with the thermometer. So he opened his mouth, inviting her to put it in, as he'd grown accustomed to in a rather short period of time.

After a couple moments the beep sounded and Regina withdrew it, nearly having a heart attack at the numbers that greeted her. "103.2," she announced with a frown. "That's pretty high."

"What was it last time?" Emma couldn't remember.

"102.5."

"Geez, that went up almost a full degree."

A frown pulled at Regina's lips. "They say if it gets to 104 or to get medical attention." The idea of once again being in the hospital wasn't appealing to her.

"Let's just hope it won't go up, then," Emma shared her unwillingness to set foot in the hospital again so soon. "So, kid," she turned her attention back to Henry. "How about that ice water?"

Henry nodded.

"Okay." Emma patted his leg over the blanket. "I'll get right on that." She left to do so.

Regina wished there was something she could give him for his headache. Aspirin was a bad idea for children in general, but it was downright dangerous for those with the flu. That meant other medications commonly taken for headaches were a bad idea as well, like ibuprofen, which was a tad safer for children.

A moment later, Emma returned with the water in hand, and Henry sat up a bit more properly in the bed. When she handed the glass to him, the first thing he did was hold it up against his face, wanting to cool his skin.

Regina gently brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Is there anything I can get you? One of your comic books, maybe?"

Henry shook his head. "No thanks." He didn't want to ruin it when his stomach got unsettled again. "No comic books," he elaborated. He then sipped at the water, finally letting it soothe his throat.

"Something else, then?"

Henry thought for a moment and then just shook his head again.

"Alright." Regina leaned forward and pressed an affectionate kiss to his forehead.

"Want us to stay, kid?" Emma asked. "Or do you want to be left alone?"

"You can go."

Emma nodded. "Okay." She took Regina's hand gently. "Come on." She was secretly grateful that Henry didn't want them to stay any longer, because the flu was contagious and the last thing Regina needed while trying to get pregnant was getting sick.

Regina let Emma lead her out of the room. "I wish there was more we could do."

"He'll be okay." Emma wrapped an arm around her waist. "And we're already doing our best."

"I wish I could just snap my fingers and make it better." At the word 'snap', she snapped her fingers for emphasis. "But even with magic I never had the power to heal. I was never light enough for that." There were so many situations in which she found herself wishing she chose the other path of magic, instead of the one she'd taken. Certain people might not be dead if she had, and surely countless others wouldn't be, either.

"So there's actually _types _of magic? I thought magic was just…you know, magic."

Regina shook her head. "It's a _very _good thing you weren't in Enchanted Forest very long. I don't think you'd know how to live there."

"In a place stuck in the twelfth century without indoor plumbing? No thank you. I'll take this world and its helpful inventions any day."

Regina sighed as a completely irrelevant thought came to her. "I'm not going to be able to take maternity leave."

"But you're the mayor."

"Exactly. I don't exactly think anyone else can run this town for five months or longer."

Emma tried to think of someone that could take the job temporarily but no one came to mind. "I'm drawing a blank, too." She did, however, have an idea. "So just work from home. Do all your paper work from home and just tell people not to call unless there's an emergency, and have them make sure said emergency isn't something the Sheriff can deal with."

"So I stay home while you work all the time? I don't really like that idea."

Emma was surprised that her point was completely lost on Regina. "You may not be able to replace yourself, but you can replace _me_."

"With who?"

Emma shrugged. "Isn't Ruby like her own guard dog?"

"_Ruby _as Sheriff? You want me to put Red Riding Hood as _Sheriff?"_

"Well, if you've got any better ideas, feel free to use them."

"You think Whale would do it?"

"You mean the guy who was ready to kill you the moment the curse broke? Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"Better than a werewolf."

"An incompetent doctor is better than a werewolf?"

"'Incompetent'?"

"He might as well be. He doesn't seem to do his job right. Like ever. He wasn't even part of the team that took that glass from your eye."

"Are you… Is this about Snow?"

"No! …Maybe. I don't know. It's just, hardly anything seems to go right when he's around."

"Okay, so not Whale, then…" Regina sighed, drawing a blank as to who else could replace Emma as Sheriff.

"Anyway…" Emma clearly wanted to change the topic. "Is the house going to be ready soon? At the most you've got four days until the eggs are ready to, um, be _returned _to you. But it'll most likely be like two days."

"Then give me two days and it'll be ready."

"Okay." She pressed a kiss to her temple. No later than the moment her lips met skin, her cell phone rang. Emma groaned at the interruption and walked over to where she'd left her phone. She'd given everyone in her contacts the same ringtone, so she knew that any other number that called was for work, and the phone was using the generic ring tone. It must be work. "Sheriff Swan," she answered. "Uh huh… Yeah, okay. Right, I'll be there." She hung up and rolled her eyes. "The things in my job description…" She shook her head and sighed before returning to Regina. "Well, duty calls." She kissed her gently.

"Are you going to tell Henry you're leaving?"

"Yeah, that would be a good idea." Emma then went back to the room that was serving as Henry's. "Hey, kid. I have to work, so it'll be just you and Regina for a while, okay?"

Henry nodded. "Okay."

Emma walked over to the bed and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "Be good. And please try not to get any worse while I'm gone."

"I don't think I really have a choice."

"Well, try, okay? I don't want to come back to find out you had to be taken to the hospital."

"I'll try."

"Good." Emma left the room, then.

"Cat get stuck in a tree?" Regina teased as Emma shrugged on her jacket.

"Ha. Ha. You're so funny." Emma shook her head. "No," she answered. "But it's something equally as ridiculous."

"Nothing that puts you in too much danger, then?"

"It's just Leroy, disturbing the peace yet again."

"Someone seriously needs to put that man in AA meetings. Or rehab."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "You're the mayor. Why don't you do it?"

Regina scoffed. "That dwarf is not on my priority list."

"Yet he's on mine." Emma tsked. "You should really take some time to amend my job description," she told her as she opened the door. "It's your own fault that I get called away from you."

"Yeah, well, maybe I just like making you suffer."

"I believe it!" And then she was gone, shutting the door behind her.

Regina chuckled to herself. It was amazing they could actually joke about that, considering at first, Regina really _did _enjoy making Emma suffer.

To pass the time until Emma got back, Regina found some paper and a pen, drawing a line straight down the middle. It was early, but then again Regina had always been the type to plan things in advance. She labeled the left side BOYS and the right side GIRLS, then started thinking of names. She tried to do it evenly, so that there weren't more names on one side than the other. When she ran out of ideas, there were five names on each side. She supposed that would work for the moment.


	19. Chapter 19

"I told you it would work," Emma boasted. "I told you and you insisted on being pessimistic about it."

"Do you want a medal?" Regina asked with a smirk. "It's not my fault the first test was a false negative. It brought me down."

"Illogically. Those eggs were fertilized when they went in. They wouldn't all just dissolve."

"I really think four is over doing it. I quote you, 'two, maybe three' would be fertilized. What if they _all _make it? It took a lot of mental convincing to make myself believe I could handle twins, let alone _quadruplets." _

"Make up your mind, Regina. Are you going to be happy that it worked or are you going to complain about the number of kids we might be having?"

"Well each one that _doesn't _make it is just another addition to my list of failed pregnancies."

Emma sighed. "Yeah, okay, that sucks. I get it. But the ones that make it are additions to a list of successful pregnancies. And yeah, there may not be a balance between them, but right now that success list doesn't even exist. So look at the bright side with me. And don't even try to argue the possibility of miscarriage, because even if that does happen you're not going to lose all of them, okay? It's just simple mathematical probability."

"Says the woman who didn't attend college."

"Hey, I made it through high school! Well…_most _of high school. Probability is taught during freshman year, anyway. Considering college doesn't even _exist _where you're from, I'd say you don't have judging rights."

"Fine, fine." Regina held her hands up in surrender. "No need to arrest me, Sheriff."

Emma laughed. "Okay, you still have your sense of humor. That's good. I was starting to worry." She looked around the room. "Seriously, your idea of fixing looks like you threw half of your personality away. When you said basic I thought you meant something along the lines of furniture that doesn't look like it cost millions of dollars, not getting a bed twice as small as the last one and certainly not emptying half of the closet. I'm pretty sure you're going to snap right back once however many kids are born, you're going to miss those clothes."

"I was trying to be practical. It got the job done faster. You _were _rushing me ever since I told you what I was doing."

"Because you stubbornly waited until it was almost done to tell me when I could've been helping you the entire time."

"You're going to be helping me whether I like it or not for the better part of a year, I wanted to have one last project of my own before being coddled and treated like I'm terminal."

"I'm not going to treat you like you're terminal; I'm going to spoil you."

"Whatever you say, dear."

"Speaking of sickness, you should probably just let me take care of Henry for the time being. I may have had the flu while pregnant, but it was months into it and I don't want you getting sick. And I just may go insane if I have to take care of two sick people, and I'd probably get sick myself. So relax, take a break from being a mom."

Regina snorted. "That's impossible, but I'll humor you."

"Thank you." Emma pressed a kiss to her forehead. "The homework he's been missing is starting to pile up, though. Maybe you could do something about that."

"Are you suggesting I do it for him?"

"Something like that. It would just be cruel and unusual punishment to expect him to do it, especially since he'd likely end up throwing up all over it. And come on, his grades shouldn't suffer for something that isn't his fault."

"You are turning me into such a delinquent."

"Says the woman who told me that she's been a prisoner before," Emma quipped. "I think that means you got the delinquent part covered long before meeting me." She smirked. "Besides, you like it when I use the handcuffs."

Regina's face turned a light pink shade. "Alright, that's enough from you!" She shoved Emma lightly, attempting to move her from her place on the bed. "Go occupy yourself elsewhere. I'm tired; I want to take a nap."

Emma chuckled. "_Sure _you do." Tired her butt. She just couldn't handle the embarrassment. Still, hell hath no fury stronger than a pregnant woman, no matter how short they've been in that state, so Emma let Regina basically kick her out of their room. She could hang out with Henry, at least for a little bit.

"The house looks so weird now," was Henry's greeting.

Emma snickered. "That it does. Glad I'm not the only one that thinks so." She settled down onto the couch in front of the television, close but not too close to Henry. "Not that you were being loud, 'cause you weren't, but Regina wants to sleep so we should be quiet."

"She's weird, too."

Emma bit her lip to keep from laughing. "Don't let her hear you say that, kid."

"I know I was all mad at her and stuff…but why did that make her want another kid?"

Emma shook her head. "Those are two completely unrelated facts. I admit the timing could have been better, but that was actually my fault. She wanted to wait until after the wedding."

"Aren't I enough?"

Emma's heart broke a bit at that. She reached out and cupped his cheek, not caring about the sickness in that moment. "You're perfect Henry, you really are. And it's not because you're not good enough. But think about it, you may not think it's a short time, but in six years you're going to be all grown up. You're probably going to stick around for a couple extra years until you figure out what you're going to do for a house, but then when you know, you're going to move out. Then Regina's just gonna be stuck with me, and it would be sad for her, you know? She's had you around almost your entire life. But now? Now she won't have to be just stuck with me. She'll have another little boy or little girl to take care of. And when I gave you away, I missed a lot. Your first word, your first steps, your first birthday, and I tried to ignore it but I could never forget you or what I gave up by giving you up. This way when you leave, Regina won't be as lonely, and I'll be able to have what I missed with you. And hey, you'll get to be a big brother. Didn't you wish you had other kids around that were your age when you were little? Being an only child is tough, I'm one too. And with the mayor as your mom? Well, I can only imagine the number of babysitters she had to hire to watch you. But now when we're both busy, you'll have some company. Sure, you'll probably be thirteen years older than them and won't be able to do the things with them kids your age do, you'll still be able to play with and talk to them. I'd say it's a win for all of us."

"That…actually makes a lot of sense."

Emma grinned. "Good! Regina will be glad to hear that." She kissed the top of his head. "You're not being replaced. No one could ever replace you. We're just adding on to our family is all. Besides, won't it be cool to be a bit bossy and to finally play the 'I'm older than you' card to get someone to listen to you?"

Henry laughed. "I won't tell Mom you said that."

"Good boy! You've learned well." She ruffled his hair. Oh yeah, he was _so _her kid. She got an idea, a pretty damn perfect one. "So, kid. About the wedding, I just thought that since Regina doesn't have anyone to give her away, perhaps you'd like to do the honors? No pressure, you can think about it. Regina was probably just going to have you be the ring bearer. Either way, you'll look adorable in a tux."

Henry felt a heat on his cheeks that had nothing to do with the flu. "I'm just glad you didn't ask me to be the flower girl."

Emma snickered again. "_That _would be a sight to see. However I'm not sure how Regina would feel about sticking you in a dress."

"I don't think it would look good, anyway."

"Well, it's not like we're going to find out. Though I am tempted to make it happen through Photoshop now."

Henry's eyes widened. "You wouldn't!"

"Well _you _made me a firefighter."

"That was different! I was trying to get you the Sheriff job."

"Still Photoshop."

"Well I guess I can't stop you…just don't use pink, whatever you do."

Emma laughed. "Okay, kid. No pink." Emma shook her head, glad that they seemed to be at a truce now. She looked to the screen and only then realized what her son was watching. "You're watching Glee?"

Henry shrugged. "Nothing else was on. It's not bad, anyway."

"You are full of surprises." She watched long enough to catch on to the fact that the episode was a tribute to Rocky Horror. It gave her an idea. She didn't care how, but someday she would drag Regina to a midnight showing. A person just hasn't _lived _until they've seen Rocky Horror in a theater, and the virgin games were excellent. She smiled to herself. It would happen. She knew there was a cast in Storybrooke, she'd attended their show the second Saturday after she arrived. She doubted Regina knew of its existence, but she would change that. "If you think this is good, wait until you see the movie this episode is based on."

"That would be…interesting." Henry couldn't think of a better word. The costumes were strange and the song lyrics were even stranger, and considering Glee was a family show, the plot was probably toned down quite a bit.

"That it is, kid. That it is."

After a few minutes, Emma asked, "Do you want to try eating something? See if you can keep it down?" He had to get his nutrients somehow, and they weren't about to ship him off to the hospital to get them in liquefied form through an IV. "Maybe nothing solid for now, but soup or something?"

"Okay."

Emma got up from the couch and went into the kitchen. She opened cabinets until she found what she was looking for, deciding on tomato soup. It had been one of her favorites while she was sick, and if Henry was anything like her, he'd enjoy it, too. It was a little less boring than the standard chicken noodle soup Regina had been giving him. It only took about five minutes to make and soon she was carrying the steaming bowl out to him. "Careful," she warned as she set it down on the small table in front of him. "It's hot." She placed a few little saltine cracker packets next to the bowl in case he wanted to mix them in. Again, it was something she figured might help from her own experience.

"Thanks."

"No problem, kid."

Emma went back out to the kitchen to grab something to eat for herself. Since Regina was sleeping and therefore couldn't criticize her for it, she helped herself to the jar of peanut butter. She gazed at the two year calendar that was on their fridge for a while before sliding the magnets that held it there off to the side, taking it down. She brought it to the table and grabbed a pen so she could write stuff down. She flipped back to January and thought back to the beginning of the previous year, trying to remember important events that occurred. However, she couldn't think of anything significant that had happened until March of 2013.

_March 11, 2013 R+E officially together_

_April 12, 2013 E crash_

_April 19, 2013 R "accident"_

_May 8, 2013 E moves in with R_

Emma paused in her writing, shaking her head. "It's already been a year?" she murmured to herself. "Wow."

_June 8, 2013 R's proposal_

_June 12, 2013 Ring purchase_

_August 6, 2013 E engagement announcement_

_September 2, 2013 H's first day of fifth grade_

_September 16, 2013 E surprises R_

Emma smiled fondly at the memory of the day she'd just made note of.

_October 22, 2013 E 30__th__ b-day_

Emma thought back to her conversation with Regina about birthdays. She'd have to show her additions to their calendar later, because at the time of the conversation neither of them realized what Regina had said was false. Not in the place they were at the present, she'd said, but Regina's birthday was coming up in July and July of the previous year they'd already been engaged. With everything that was going on, they both hadn't realized they were approaching the year mark of their engagement. Time had gotten away from them, Emma realized, as the birthday of hers they'd been talking about had been her 28th in 2011. Her first birthday in Storybrooke, her 29th, had been a month after the curse broke and two months before they'd started sleeping together. Until she'd written down her 30th, she realized that was the year they'd both forgotten about. Emma chuckled. She knew she was terrible with dates. How she was even writing these milestones, she didn't know.

Onto 2014 she went, to February when Gold had cashed in his favor.

_February 23, 2014 E+H head to NY_

_March 10, 2014 E+H return to SB; battle ensues; R destroys house; G B&B_

_March 11, 2014 R+E 1 year anniversary_

_March 13, 2014 H's tantrum_

_March 20, 2014 R+E Snow talk_

_April 7, 2014 R+E baby talk; 2nd__ H tantrum_

_April 21, 2014 H's 12th__ birthday_

_April 27, 2014 Snow memory loss; E+R 2nd__ baby talk_

_May 2, 2014 R+E choose donor_

_May 16, 2014 R egg extraction_

_May 18, 2014 H flu_

_May 20, 2014 R egg return; R+E+H return home_

_May 27, 2014 False negative_

_May 29, 2014 Pregnancy confirmed_

Emma put a star next to the date of that last entry because it was that day's date, then she added to it:

_E adds milestones to calendar_

She flipped to July, then.

_July 15__th__, 2014 R's birthday_

Flipped to September.

_September 6, 2014 H's first day of 6__th__ grade_

Then for the last one she flipped to October.

_October 22, 2014 E's 31__st__ birthday _

Emma closed the calendar, but no sooner than it had folded shut, she opened it right back up again. She went to June.

_June 29, 2014 R pregnant 1 month_

_July 29, 2014 R pregnant 2 months_

_August 29, 2014 R pregnant 3 months_

_September 29, 2014 R pregnant 4 months_

_October 29, 2014 R pregnant 5 months_

_November 29, 2014 R pregnant 6 months_

_December 29, 2014 R pregnant 7 months_

Emma smiled. Their baby or babies would be born close to the time of their second anniversary. She picked the calendar back up and returned it to the refrigerator, putting back the magnets that held it in place, the May 2014 page greeting those who looked at it. She stepped back and nodded, proud of her work.

**Author's Note: I hope those dates are satisfactory for you all! They were ridiculously hard to come up with in a way that made sense, and I hope this does. They're a few months into the future, but who cares, right? **


	20. Chapter 20

Due to the inability to think up other options for Emma's replacement as Sheriff besides Ruby and Dr. Whale, Regina decided to hold a town meeting.

Regina sat at the head of the table, Emma sat adjacent to her left. At the far right sat Gold and Belle, the latter of which seemed to have gained their memory back. Regina was grateful that Gold had taken the seat as far away as possible from her. Across from them sat Red and Granny. Mother Superior deemed the seat adjacent to Regina's right safe to sit in. Charming sat to Emma's left, and Snow, still without a lot of her memory, sat to his left. Dr. Whale sat at Mother Superior's right. At Whale's right was Archie Hopper. The table was full, save for the opposite end where no one sat, ever.

Once everyone had arrived and was settled, Regina began, "You may be wondering why I've brought you here today, and the answer in quite simple. As some of you may or may not be aware, for nearly a full year Miss Swan and I have been engaged."

Soft murmurs rose around the table.

"Now," Regina continued. "Not only are we engaged, we're also expecting."

Emma did her best not to wince as she remembered she never told her parents of their plans. Not beyond the engagement, that is.

The murmurs around the table increased and Regina waited for order to return, ever the business woman.

"Because of this," Regina went on. "Miss Swan will be stepping down from her position as Sheriff, temporarily, in a few short months. Needless to say, she will have a replacement. That is why you are here. I am at a loss as to who this replacement shall be. This is where you come in. I will accept any and all nominations; you may even feel free to nominate yourself." She tapped on the piece of paper sitting in front of her. "This sheet of paper will go around the table counter-clockwise. Write down who you wish to nominate. If the name of the person you choose to nominate is already on the paper by the time it gets to you, make a tally mark next to the name. The five names with the most tally marks will have the choice to become official candidates. If there are any ties, the paper will go around the table again until the top five choices stand out clearly. If you find yourself nominated and don't wish to be a candidate, tell me after the meeting and I'll cross your name off the list. I want at least three candidates that the people can vote on. However, if all five are comfortable they will all become candidates and there will be two elections. The three candidates with the most votes from the first election will move on to the second where ultimately one will win. Before the elections, each candidate will have a chance to speak in order to convince the townspeople why they should be selected as Miss Swan's temporary replacement. The dates for these events will be given once decided on." And with that, Regina pushed the paper over to Mother Superior, along with a pen.

Ironically, both Ruby and Dr. Whale ended up being on the list by the time it got back to Regina. There were eight names on the list.

_Charming_

Mother Superior

Gold

Ruby

Belle

Dr. Whale

Dr. Hopper

And also on the list, much to Regina's surprise:

_Hook_

Charming had one tally mark next to his name, as did Ruby. It was painfully obvious who had voted for the both of them. Emma and Regina didn't vote.

"Alright, this is going to go a bit differently than I'd planned. Charming, Ruby, are the two of you comfortable being candidates for this position?"

"And get a break from being a waitress?" Ruby spoke rhetorically. "Definitely, yes!"

"Alright, Charming?"

Charming looked at Snow, torn.

"It's okay," Snow insisted. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

Charming nodded. "Okay, I'll accept the nomination."

"Great!" Regina crossed both names off the list. "Now, I'll pass the list around again. From the remaining names the three with the most will be asked the same question. Remember, there's no pressure if you're on this list. Just tell me if you don't want to do it and I'll ask someone else in your place." Once again, the pen and paper went to Mother Superior.

When Regina got the paper back this time, the six names had a bit more tally marks.

_Mother Superior II  
_

_Gold I_

Belle II

Dr. Whale III

Dr. Hopper I  
  
_Hook  
_  
"Alright, it seems Dr. Whale, Mother Superior, and Belle are the next candidates, if you so choose," Regina announced. "If not, Gold and/or Dr. Hopper can be replacements."

"I think the hospital could use a break from me," Dr. Whale stated.

"Did I hear a vague yes somewhere in there?" Regina asked.

Dr. Whale nodded. "Yes, I'll accept."

Regina mentally smirked. Now both hers and Emma's picks were among the candidates. "Belle, what about you? I know you've just recently gotten your memories back." She was feeling iffy about her, if only because of her connection to Gold. It seemed risky for her and Emma to step down as the power couple of the town only to be replaced by Gold and Belle. She thought it to be quite enough that Gold owned the town, but she was doing her best to be democratic.

"I think I could handle it, it's not permanent."

Regina nodded. "Alright." She looked over to Mother Superior.

"Forgive me if I'm being presumptuous, but if I somehow were to make it through the first election, let alone the second, who will be marrying you to Emma?" asked Mother Superior. "I would guess the Sheriff position would be expected to have one hundred percent focus, not to be split with church matters."

"You bring up a good point," Regina agreed. "But it's your decision to make, ultimately."

"I think it would be best for me to step down." She looked around the rest of the table. "But thank you to whomever put me on that list."

Regina nodded. "Alright. Once more, the paper will go around. The vote will be between Gold and Dr. Hopper. The one with the most tallies will be asked to take Mother Superior's place as the fifth candidate." Regina crossed all the names out and wrote Gold and Dr. Hopper's name a second time underneath all the crossed out names. "This time it will be clockwise." The paper and pen went to Charming first.

_Gold III_

Hopper IIIIII

"Well, Dr. Hopper, over half the people in this room voted for you. Will you take the opportunity?" Regina asked.

Archie Hopper gave a slight nod. He highly doubted he would make it past the first election, anyway. He thought Charming would be the one to get the job, in all honesty. Still, he felt honored that half of the room favored him over Gold, and he took it because he knew that if he refused Gold would get the fifth spot. Gold wasn't someone Archie wanted to see as Sheriff, so he'd take his chances.

"Charming, Ruby, Dr. Whale, Belle, and Dr. Hopper: Congratulations. I'll let you know when to be prepared to make a public appearance. Best of luck to you all. With this taken care of, this meeting is complete. You're free to return home to whatever you were doing beforehand."

With permission granted to do so, people began to get up from the table and prepared to leave. Charming and Snow remained behind, however. Emma mentally prepared herself for a confrontation, but to her surprise, no confrontation was to be had.

"Which one of you is carrying?" Snow asked.

"I am," Regina answered.

"How…How far along are you? You're obviously not showing yet."

"I've been carrying since the 20th of last month but the eggs were fertilized a few days before that. So just about three weeks."

"It's in vitro," Emma felt the urge to explain. "And in two days it will be exactly a year since Regina proposed."

"Regina proposed?" Charming sounded surprised.

"Yeah, well, I was drunk. But I meant what I said."

Emma was surprised that Regina admitted that.

"So… Is there a date for the wedding, yet?" Snow asked.

Emma and Regina exchanged a look. They still didn't know what to do about Snow now that she'd forgotten what she'd done.

"It might be around October," Emma answered. "But it depends on how many kids Regina ends up carrying. If there's more than two it may be bumped up sooner, everything kinda depends on how this pregnancy goes."

Charming's eyes widened. "There could be more than two?"

"That's how this sort of thing works. It could just be one, but it could also be up to four," Emma explained. "It's a bit of an odd process."

"That sounds really confusing," Snow replied.

"Well, they do multiples so that if one doesn't take it doesn't hurt as badly," Emma stated. "It's rare that all the fertilized eggs actually make it full term. But the house is basically baby-proofed already and we can handle however many decide to meet us. It's why I'll be stepping down temporarily and Regina will start working from home a lot. We'll have Henry to help out, too, so it won't be too bad."

"How is Henry?" Snow asked. "I know you think I might scare him because of how much time I've forgotten, but I really would like to see him again."

"We'll think about it," Emma promised. "We just want what's best for him, you know? And we need to decide what that is."

Snow nodded. "Yeah, yeah I know. I wish everything would just come back, then there wouldn't be a risk of scaring him."

Everyone else in the room kept their mouths shut at that comment.

Charming took Snow's hand. "We should let them leave," he told her gently. "Henry will probably be getting out of school soon and they'll need to pick him up."

Snow nodded. "Well, keep in touch, Emma. Alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll come over sometime," Emma replied.

Charming led Snow out of the room and then Regina and Emma were alone.

"That was," Regina began.

"Awkward," Emma finished. "Very awkward."

"I forgot you hadn't told them, but I had to tell the truth about why you're stepping down."

"I know. It's my own fault. I should've told them after you told me there was going to be a town meeting, but I hadn't thought about it. I guess I forgot that they'd be here."

"Well, come on, I'd like to get home."

"Okay." Emma took her hand as they began their walk back to the car. "Have you thought of when you'd like to get an ultrasound? They can be done as early as six weeks and then we'll know how many babies to expect."

Regina let out a long exhale. "I don't know if I want to do it that early. I know it's not likely, but I kind of want all four to make it. The longer I wait the longer I can pretend they will."

"I don't know if having denial like that is such a good idea. You'd get attached to the number and then it will hurt more if there's less."

"Okay, well, how about ten weeks? That's still early but not so far along to where I'll get super attached. Besides, it will be more accurate."

"Okay, ten weeks sounds good." Emma pressed a kiss to her cheek. "And if you want all four to make it then I'll hope for them to make it, too. Power of positive thinking."

It was Regina's car they'd taken, but Emma was the one who drove it. It was the compromise they'd worked out. If Emma wouldn't let Regina drive then the least Emma could do was drive Regina's car when they went somewhere together. Emma decided it was fair; she still got to drive her own car whenever she was alone.

Regina got into the passenger side and Emma got into the driver's side.

"You know," Emma grinned as they strapped themselves in. "It or they will be born close to our second anniversary."

"Yeah, I worked that out when I saw all the dates you marked on our calendar."

"You saw that, huh?" Emma asked as she started the car. "I was going to make a point to point it out to you eventually."

"I guess I beat you to it. Though I scratched out the part on the day where you wrote about Snow. Henry would've started asking questions if he saw it."

"Oh, right!" Emma started pulling into the street. "Good move. Really, I hadn't thought of that. Thank you. That wouldn't have been a good conversation, not when we're all on good terms again."

"You're welcome. It's bad enough he still doesn't quite believe what she did."

Emma sighed. "I think that's a good reason to still keep Henry away from her. At least, not let him see her without supervision. We can't just hope he doesn't ask her right off the bat if what we said was true, and she doesn't remember any of it… He'd still think we're liars. So if we start letting them see each other one or both of us will have to be with them."

Regina nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea." She settled her head against the window. "Summer's almost here," she murmured. "Our boy's growing up."

"Yup. Middle school already."

"He's going to start bringing girls home soon, get a job, and then school will end and he'll leave."

"Woah, there. One milestone at a time." Emma reached over to give her thigh a gentle pat. "And even when he does leave, it's not like the house will be empty."

"Mm." Regina looked over to her as she changed the subject. "So, October, huh? When were you planning on including me in setting the date?"

"I was stalling!" Emma defended. "And maybe I was thinking about bringing October up…"

"That's less than half a year away."

"Yes, I know. But October's about halfway through the pregnancy and I think you'll be showing the perfect size then. Enough to make the pregnancy obvious but not so big you have limited dress options. Besides, it's not set in stone or anything. I just think it would be nice. …And it's also my birthday month. I mean, when I first got here I told you that on my birthday I just wished I didn't have to be alone, and if the wedding's close to my birthday, wouldn't it symbolize that I never have to be alone on my birthday ever again?"

"Stop being perfect."

Emma chuckled as she put her full attention on the road once more. "I'm so not perfect."

"Well, then, if love doesn't mean finding the perfect person it must mean seeing an imperfect person perfectly."

"You seriously need to be a writer of some sort."

A couple minutes later, Emma pulled into their driveway.

When they were halfway to the front door, Regina groaned, "I don't think they approve of what I ate for breakfast." Her hand rested against her stomach and she clamped her lips tightly shut, visibly fighting off nausea.

"Okay, let's get you inside." Emma quickened her pace until she reached the door and unlocked it. She held it open as Regina sped through.

Regina knew she wouldn't be able to make it up to the bathroom, so she darted into the kitchen. The kitchen sink was most definitely not her first choice, but at least it had garbage disposal. As soon as she reached it she could no longer keep it down. It burned her throat on the way out.

Regina had forgotten how truly awful this part of pregnancy was. "Why do they call it morning sickness if it lasts all day?" she moaned. "Why?" She spit out the remnants of what had invaded her mouth and turned the faucet on, making it all go down the drain.

Emma chuckled from the entrance from the doorway. "Because nature has a cruel sense of humor." She was planning on joining her, if only to hold her hair back, but it seemed it was over with as quickly as it had begun.

"Obviously." She shut the faucet off and made to leave the kitchen. "Think you could move out of the way? I need to get this horrid taste out of my mouth before it makes me sick all over again."

Emma stepped out of the way and bent in a mock bow, sweeping her arm out in a gesture to the space beyond.

"Funny," Regina commented blandly as she made her way past. "Very funny." She continued on her way so she could get to the bathroom in order to brush her teeth. She rested a hand on her stomach along the way. "You start being nicer to Mommy," she spoke to it. "Or else I'm grounding you early."

**AN: Sssh, I know I mathematically goofed for the first round of voting, what with there being 10 votes when only 9 people were voting. Hook's name being there was probably someone's idea of a joke, in all honesty. Yeah. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.**


	21. Chapter 21

"Emma, I'm busy." Regina balanced the phone between her shoulder and her ear.

"It's getting late."

"I know what time it is."

"What are you doing?"

"Making ballots."

"That doesn't sound like it should take you all day."

"Yeah, well, I'm trying to save time this way. I'm not just making them for the first election, I'm making them for both."

"…Huh?"

"I'm making them for both, meaning I'm making ballots for every possible candidate combination in threes. I can only scale four to a page, and I need about a thousand of each."

"You know you're crazy, right? Trying to cover who the three finalists will possibly be is borderline impossible. That has to be at least twenty combinations and that means over twenty thousand ballots. You know that's a lot of trees you're killing, right?"

"Would you rather I try to get this done in as little days as possible, or do you want me to take a month to get it done?"

"Just be ready before midnight. I'm not going to want to pick you up but I'll be damned if you attempt to walk home."

"I'll wrap up by eleven, promise."

"I'll hold you to that."

"Yes dear." Regina trailed her eyes over the computer screen in front of her. "Can I get back to work now?"

"Fine. I love you."

"Yeah, I love you, too." Regina hung up then and shook her head. "Really, dear, you must find a better hobby other than coddling me," she mumbled under her breath.

So far she'd figured out ten of the possible final candidates combinations:

1.) Belle  
Charming  
Hopper

2.) Belle  
Charming  
Ruby

3.) Belle  
Charming  
Whale

4.) Belle  
Hopper  
Ruby

5.) Belle  
Hopper  
Whale

6.) Belle  
Ruby  
Whale

7.) Charming  
Hopper  
Ruby

8.) Charming  
Hopper  
Whale

9.) Charming  
Ruby  
Whale

10.) Hopper  
Ruby  
Whale

That would make at least eleven thousand ballots, as the ballots with all five candidates for the first election had already been made and printed out. One may not think clicking the print button over and over was very physically exhausting, but when one did it two hundred fifty times in a row, one's hand ended up in a major cramp. At the point Regina was at now, she'd hit that button a thousand times. First with the first election ballots, then with three of the possible ballots for the second election. But that wasn't all, no; she also had to cut each and every ballot out of its four-on-a-page layout for a thousand pages as well.

It was a daunting task to be done alone. More than once she'd thought of asking Emma to come in and help her, but someone had to keep an eye on Henry. True, Emma had trusted Red with Henry once, but Regina simply didn't like the idea of her being a babysitter when she wasn't absolutely needed. Henry was beginning to protest that he was old enough to stay home alone, and that only increased now that summer had started. Regina was having none of it, though. Perhaps when he was a teenager she would allow it, but he'd only turned twelve two months previous. It crossed her mind that both Emma and Henry could help, but she doubted Henry would be patient enough. She would give him half an hour before he would inevitably become bored. No, it was better that she just muddle through alone.

The amount of manila envelops that were being piled on the desk beside the computer was getting to be ridiculous. On the left side there were ten stacked together, one hundred ballots in each envelope, all for the first election. Each envelope was labeled as such in black sharpie. On the right there were currently twenty-five in three separate piles. The first stack was labeled, _Election 2 Possibility #1_, the second was labeled, _Election 2 Possibility #2, _and what was there of the third stack was labeled, _Election 2 Possibility #3_. Regina was still working on cutting the ballots and counting them out in hundreds. She glanced at the clock on the bottom right of the computer and saw that it read 9:15 PM. With a sigh she decided not to print out any ballots from Possibility #4 and beyond. She would finish cutting and putting the ballots in the envelopes, then she'd call Emma and have her come get her. Her and her forty manila envelopes which she had no idea how she was going to carry. Perhaps Emma would bring Henry and the three of them could take about twelve or thirteen. Even so, that was still a lot.

Regina still hadn't decided when the public speaking event or the elections would be. She would have to figure that out soon as it was already the 23rd of June and the town meeting had been on the 6th. Not only that, but it was clear she was carrying more than one child. She was bigger than she remembered being with Leopold's child at the same time. The next day would mark the fifth week from the day the fertilized eggs had been put back into her body. She remembered being generally flat at five weeks all those years ago, but now her pregnancy was noticeable if you looked hard enough. Her clothes were tighter on her. Thankfully she had some loose shirts, but her skirts and pants were beginning to become a problem. Her size told her that there were at least two babies hanging around inside her. Because of this, she knew she wouldn't want to be able to be on her feet quite as often as she was used to and it would get harder and harder to look nice for public events, and she wanted to look nice when the town picked their temporary Sheriff. She did know that she wanted there to be at least a week between each event, and she wanted the new Sheriff to become active by October at the latest, in case that happened to be the month of the wedding.

Regina saved everything that was on the computer and shut it down, not wanting to see the harsh glare anymore now that all she was doing was cutting and counting the ballots. She was in the middle of counting out the next hundred when she felt a sharp pain in her chest that made her lose count. Her breath hitched in her throat as she waited for the pain to subside. When it finally went away, she relaxed in her chair.

"What did I tell you about being nice to Mommy, hm?" she tapped her stomach. "Especially while I'm working." She could tell the next eight months ahead of her were going to be quite long indeed. The nausea, the breast pain, the moodiness, and the cravings had started already. Some days she just didn't want to get out of bed, and if she were honest, she'd fallen asleep at the computer more than once that day. "If you're torturing me for food, you'll get it later."

Regina carried on with the task at hand, becoming so engrossed in it that she hadn't heard the footsteps that sounded in the room.

"Ready?"

Regina jumped in her seat, letting out a tiny squeal of terror as she was clearly startled. Her wide eyes caught sight of Emma and she relaxed. "Jesus, Emma, are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Emma shook her head. "It's eleven thirty, Regina."

"It… Oh, is it?" Perhaps she shouldn't have shut down the computer. "Well, I just have like five pages of ballots to cut out, then I'll be done."

Emma took in the sight of the desk. "Well, this is interesting. Little miss neat freak has a mess on her desk."

"It's not a mess! These are the ballots." Regina pointed to the stack to the left. "These are for the first election." Her finger moved to the right side. "And these are possibilities for the second election. Three of the possible combinations, to be exact."

"Why…Why so many?"

"You don't think a thousand ballots are going to fit in one envelope, do you? 'Cause they won't. Each envelope has one hundred ballots inside."

"You're planning on taking them home, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Of course you are." Emma sighed. "Never simple, always complicated."

Regina flashed her a smile. "Part of my charm, dear."

Emma chuckled. "Whatever. What's your genius plan in getting them all out to the car?"

"Your help, for one, that should be obvious. And we may have to make two or three trips, but it's hardly a difficult journey from this room to the car."

Emma smirked. "You just assume I'll help you, huh?"

Regina arched an eyebrow. "You force your help on me with everything else; I don't figure this is any different."

"You're lucky you're pretty."

"Oh? I don't think that's the word you're looking for. I've always been pretty, but only recently have I been pregnant. I don't think you'd act as my chauffer if I weren't."

"Okay, Miss Literal. Just finish up so we can get going."

"It's not my fault I keep getting interrupted. These babies are already spoiled brats. I don't give them what they want and they decide to torture me."

"So you're sure there's more than one?"

"I'm bigger than I was with Snow's almost half-sister at five weeks; haven't you noticed how long it takes me to get dressed now? I'm going to need to start shopping for maternity wear, soon."

Emma chuckled. "Can't wait 'til your breasts get bigger."

Regina shook her head. "You have the brain of a fifteen year old boy. Besides, if you're lucky enough that I let you touch them at all during this pregnancy, you'll have to be really careful with them. They're already starting to get sore all the time."

Emma grinned wolfishly. "I can be careful."

Color rose on Regina's cheeks at Emma's expression and she returned to the task of cutting the ballots.

Five minutes later she was finished and all the ballots that had been printed off so far were in their manila envelopes.

"There's forty envelopes, so how about we each take ten, then come back and take ten more. That's only two trips, quick and easy."

Emma nodded. "Alright, sounds fair. And I know you're going to ask, the answer is that he's at home asleep. I locked everything there is to be locked before I left, so he's completely safe."

"Okay." Regina didn't expect Emma to drag Henry with her, not really, not after eleven at night. It technically didn't count as leaving Henry home alone if he wasn't awake to enjoy it, let alone even know he'd been left alone in the first place.

"I was thinking about having Ruby watch him, but I figured we wouldn't be gone long enough for it to really matter," Emma went on as they each grabbed a stack of ten envelopes.

"It's fine, you really don't need to explain." 

"I was just making sure I didn't press the crabby button."

"You didn't."

"So, I found your list of names earlier."

"I was going to show that to you eventually. I honestly forgot about it, though."

"I noticed Cora was on it."

"Just as a middle name…"

"That's okay. If we have a girl it can be the first name, if you want."

"Really?" Regina hadn't expected that at all. "I didn't think –"

"Really." They reached the car and Emma unlocked it, opening the back door. They took their turns placing the envelopes on the backseat. "Just because your mother was, well, evil for most of her life, that doesn't mean we can't name our daughter in her memory."

As soon as the back door was closed once more, Emma was tackled into a hug.

"Thank you!" Regina pressed kisses to her shoulder and neck, then went up to her cheek and finally her lips.

"Uh, wow." Emma patted her back. "I didn't know it meant that much to you."

"Me either," Regina whispered.

Emma held her for a few minutes before suggesting they go back inside for the rest of the envelopes.

About twenty minutes later, they arrived back home.

"Where are we going to put all the envelopes?" Emma asked.

"We could put them in the kitchen in an empty cabinet," Regina suggested.

"Okay, I can't really think of anything better, so let's do that."

They exited the car and then took the envelopes inside the house the same way they'd taken them to the car. Into the kitchen they went, and they fit perfectly.

"Not bad," Emma commented. "Not bad at all." She pressed a kiss to Regina's cheek. "I'll go lock the car up. Then all I want to do is lay in bed with you."

"Okay. I need to eat first, though."

"Don't take too long." Then Emma was off, and Regina was alone in the kitchen.

Regina opened the fridge and spotted a jar of pickles. She grabbed it and sat it on the table. Yes, that was definitely something that she wanted, but it just wouldn't do alone. It was missing something. Regina continued to look around for something to go with it, and when she found peanut butter something just clicked. Perfect. She grabbed some paper towels to lie on the table next to the pickle and peanut butter jars. She took three pickles from the pickle jar and laid them out on top of the paper towels. Then she found a knife and proceeded to cover the pickles with it.

Emma came back into the kitchen so she could hang the keys on the key rack and she saw what Regina was doing. She couldn't help but laugh. "You're eating…peanut butter covered pickles?"

Regina had eaten half of one already, but she hadn't put the jars back yet. "It's good!" she insisted.

"You have the strangest cravings I've ever seen. What's next, an egg salad and jelly sandwich?"

Regina's eyes went wide. "I'm going to try that!"

Emma laughed again. "Oh no, I've created a monster." She shook her head. "Eat what you want, just don't expect me or Henry to." She started to leave, then had an afterthought. "And don't even think about kissing me until you've brushed your teeth."

"Aye aye, Captain."

Emma shook her head again. "Do not call me that ever again. Ever." She left before Regina deemed it appropriate to start a food fight.

Emma went up the stairs, changed, and laid in bed. She waited for Regina to join her and tried not to fall asleep in the process. Her eyes widened a bit when Regina practically skipped into the room. Emma tried not to laugh. The pregnancy was certainly taking its liberties. "Is there a reason you're practically frolicking around the room?"

"Mm…" Regina hopped onto the bed. "I missed you."

"How long have you been awake?"

"Maybe twenty hours or so."

"Oh great, you're pregnant _and _sleep deprived. No wonder you're loopy."

Regina leaned in to kiss her but Emma placed her hands on her shoulders, stopping her.

"Did you brush your teeth?" Emma felt like she was talking to a child, especially when Regina oh so maturely breathed her hot minty breath into her face. "Okay, that's a yes. Now get out of your day clothes."

"Someone just wants to see me naked," Regina purred.

"Actually, I just know you won't be happy in the morning if you wake up and you've ruined a good outfit. I couldn't care less whether or not you stay naked."

Regina pouted. "You don't want me."

Emma sighed and drew her into her arms. "I do, just not right this minute, okay? Right now I'm tired. And you should be too; you're the one that's been awake for twenty hours."

Regina nuzzled her head against Emma's chest, making no attempt to leave the bed.

"Okay, if you're not going to do it yourself I guess I'll have to do it for you." Emma lifted the shirt and eventually pulled it off, casting it aside onto the floor. Her hands moved down to the pants and she soon had those off and cast to the floor as well. "There." She let Regina nestle close to her again. She kissed the top of her head and slid her hand down until it gently rested against her stomach. "They're going to be beautiful," she murmured into her hair. "Just like their mother."

Regina smiled and looked up at her before pressing a kiss to her lips.

Emma stroked the skin beneath her hand with her thumb. "Do you want me to go to work with you tomorrow and help you get more of the ballots done?"

"That would be nice…but what about Henry?"

"We can always have Ruby watch him."

Regina shook her head. "I don't really think of her as babysitting material."

"You don't think she's a good babysitter, yet you're allowing her to be a candidate for Sheriff? In what world does that make sense?"

"The wolf in her could come in handy for the job, but it's also dangerous and can't always be controlled. Each time Henry is near her is another opportunity for him to suffer if something happens out of her control. At least as Sheriff she could lock herself in the cell."

"Okay, well I'm pretty sure Granny won't let anything get too bad. Whether Ruby likes it or not, Granny is basically her babysitter. Two babysitters are better than one, right?"

Regina yawned. "Ask again tomorrow." She snuggled close to Emma and closed her eyes, signaling the end of the conversation. 


	22. Chapter 22

Regina ended up picking the 4th of July for the general announcement that there would be a temporary Sheriff, where each candidate got their chance to convince the townspeople they were worthy of their votes. Something about doing it on the day the country as a whole celebrated independence seemed fitting. Getting everything started early in the month meant that if everything took place in weekly increments the temporary Sheriff could very well be decided upon by the end of the month. This was good, especially for Regina. At the moment she was about six and a half weeks pregnant, and she could be just around nine or ten weeks when the Sheriff was picked. That would be easier on her, after that her public appearances wouldn't be quite so demanding, or even in existence. However, that was only if everything ran smoothly enough to be over with that early. If it carried on into August, there was no saying if the patient and business-like her personality she needed for such events would remain. Her bladder was already hyperactive, she could hardly imagine how well she'd sit or stand still if the elections carried over.

Regina stood at the podium on the small stage, announcing the plans to the town. The candidates sat in a row of chairs to the right, from the audience's perspective. Regina had them sit in alphabetical order, as that was the order she decided they would speak. Once she introduced the candidates and stated that Belle would speak first, she retreated to her own chair that was to the left of the audience's perspective.

Belle rose from her seat and took her place at the podium. "Many of you probably recognize me as Lacey, the flirty girl from the bar always eager to beat someone at a game of pool, no matter how inebriated she was. However, few know me as who I truly am, Belle French. No matter what name you associate with my face, most know me as Gold's girlfriend and that's about it. This is your chance to find out more about what I can do. If I become Sheriff in Emma's absence, I will do better than my best to make sure every man, woman, and child of Storybrooke remains safe. I will treat every call with equal importance. Nothing will be considered insignificant. Crime rate will go down, and those who deserve punishment will receive it fairly. Give me this chance, and you'll see order maintained in this town. The true power lies within each and every one of you. All of you have a voice; all you must do is use it." She gave a firm nod and the crowd erupted into applause.

Belle took her seat and Charming took the stand. Once the applause died down, he commented, "That's a tough act to follow." It earned him a few laughs. "I suppose I'll have to try, though." He waited for the audience to quiet. "Family ties and life in the Enchanted Forest aside, I stand here as a candidate today because I owe my life to this town. Regardless of the events that put me in that state, it was here that I was nursed back into health during my coma. The hospital didn't give up on me when I was just a John Doe. Taking position as Sheriff would allow me to give back to the community, help you as you've helped me, and I would never give up. If I'm Sheriff, I will never take the easy road in favor of the right road. Every stack of paperwork and every called in job will be handled with care." He didn't have an inspirational finish, so he let the silence alert the audience of the fact that he was finished. He, too, was met with applause.

Regina eventually tuned out. She really needed to pee, but she couldn't move yet. She'd have to wait until all five had spoken, and then after she alerted the crowd to where and when voting cubicles with their curtain doors and thin dividers would be set up. When everyone started leaving, she'd slip away and relieve herself. It didn't help that Emma was purposely making suggestive faces at her from her front row seat in attempt to throw her off her game. Regina would punish her for that later, in a week or so; make her count the ballot votes with her. She hoped there wouldn't be any ties. If there were, a debate would have to be held in between elections between whoever the ties were between, answering questions from the audience and then afterwards there would be a mini-election to see who became the third finalist. And that would make everything take that much longer to figure out. It made Regina wish she'd simply put the names in a hat and pick the Sheriff that way. However, picking a Sheriff wasn't like picking a student to read their essay to the class first, so of course she couldn't treat it as such.

Her brow furrowed when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Of course, as she looked at Emma, the blonde had her own phone sitting in her lap. She narrowed her eyes and shook her head in the tiniest way possible, only enough to get the message to Emma that texting during this event was inappropriate. Emma only raised her eyebrows and tapped her own phone, indicating for Regina to read it anyway.

Regina sighed and suppressed the urge to roll her eyes as she discreetly slipped her own phone out of her pocket.

_You look uncomfortable._

Regina blinked. Was it that obvious?

_I am. I have to pee._

Regina heard a not-so-quiet laugh from the audience and lifted an eyebrow in Emma's direction as those surrounding her sent glares in her direction.

_Good job. Way to come across extremely rude to _Regina looked up to see who was speaking. _Dr. Hopper._

Hey! That was funny. I thought something was wrong when it was just your out of control bladder. Which you should take care of.

Regina glared at the screen. _Not now. That's disrespectful, I can't just leave._

Oh, come on. Everyone knows now. They wouldn't question it.

Regina sighed and shook her head. _It seems I have to maintain a big enough professional attitude for the both of us, so I'll be staying right where I am._

Workaholic.

Regina raised an eyebrow and pocketed her phone. That was enough of that.

When she tuned back in to the event, she heard the end of Whale's speech,

"…And that is why I'd make an excellent Sheriff."

As the applause died down, Whale returned to his seat and Regina took the podium again. She told them to expect those voting cubicles up around the town within the next two weeks. The more populated areas of the town would have them up longer than the lesser populated areas. The former would have five days for everyone to get their votes in, the latter would have two. Once they had all the information they needed, she brought the event to a close and was finally able to make her way to the bathroom.

When she returned she almost ran right into Emma, who seemed to have been looking for her, and didn't like the expression on her face at all.

"_There _you are!"

Regina took her hands in her own, knowing she was going to keep talking.

"We have a problem."

"Oh?" Regina tilted her head to the side, slightly confused.

"I know we haven't talked about it much, but…basically any chance we might have had for a small wedding is zero. I had so many people as questions about it, people I don't even know. I mean, I don't know what else I was expecting; you are the _Mayor _after all -"

"Hey." Regina squeezed her hands gently. "It's okay. We'll deal with it. Give me some time to think and I may come up with a way around it."

"What, like running off to Vegas?"

"Trust me, okay? Can you do that?"

Emma sighed, but nodded.

"Alright." Regina drew her into her arms and rubbed her back gently.

Emma rested her head against her shoulder.

Half a minute later, a voice sounded from behind them, "Getting married again, huh?"

Regina froze. She knew that voice. She slowly moved her gaze upwards, which gave her confirmation of what should have been impossible.

Emma drew back, annoyed that the topic had been brought up again. She was ready to tell them off when she caught Regina's expression. Instead of her original intention, she took Regina's hand, lacing their fingers together. "Regina, who's that?"

"That would be Maleficent," Regina answered in a haunted tone.

Emma gaped. "The dragon lady? The one I _killed?"_

Maleficent chuckled. "Oh, you poor, delusional girl. Really, Regina, did you really think it would be that easy for your pet to destroy me?"

Regina's eyes narrowed. "She is _not _my pet! What… How are you here? _How?! _I trapped you in your dragon form."

"That you did, but in case you haven't noticed, your little curse has been broken. The curse I _strongly_ advised you against casting, I might add. And now it's broken and your purpose has gone unfulfilled. I warned you it would leave you empty, which it so clearly has. It's left you orphaned, has it not? First was your father, to cast the curse in the first place, and now just months ago your mother, just when you got her back, at Snow's hand. I can just taste the bittersweet irony."

"How do you know that?" Regina snapped, a growl to her tone. Only Emma's hand in her own held her back from summoning up all her magic to destroy her _old friend. _

"And the best part, you've wrapped Snow's daughter around your finger. Really, dear, you may have the rest of the town fooled, but I know you and your ways. It's so very obvious you're just using her. I bet she walked right into your trap like I did. I'll bet it was the same trap, too. Did you play the 'this shouldn't mean anything but it does' card? That _is _your favorite. I know you used it on others, too. Like that Genie you cursed into your mirror. The one that you tricked into killing your husband." Her next words were directed to Emma, "I'd be careful if I were you, dearie. Once she no longer has use for you, she'll likely kill you in your sleep. Or she'll lock you away somewhere, with the intent of leaving you there to rot."

"Alright, I am _so _done listening to this!" Emma was getting pissed off in record time. "I'm just so fucking done." She dropped Regina's hand and held her own up in surrender as she backed a few paces away before turning on her heel and sprinting away. It was insane. It was just absolutely insane that someone decided to come back from the dead and start questioning her love life. It also floored her that someone Regina had apparently wanted her to kill was someone that she had a past with. Of course, there was a chance that the other blonde woman was lying, but it was the 'this shouldn't mean anything but it does' line that struck a nerve. That had been almost word for word what Regina had told her that led to them becoming an official couple. And now they were set to be _married _and this supposed to be dead Maleficent comes out of nowhere and just buries them with all the dirt she could dig up from Regina's past, not to mention a few death threats. It was too much to handle. Some of what she'd said she'd already known, but there was a lot of it that Regina hadn't told her at all. It made her wonder what else her fiancée was hiding from her.

She stopped running when she almost ran into a tree, then leaned her back against the trunk and slid down until she was sitting, knees pulled up to her chest. She took in deep breaths, attempting to prevent the panic attack that was threatening to burst inside her. It didn't matter what Maleficent had said, she told herself. Regina was still Regina, she still loved her, she was carrying their children, and for crying out loud she'd attempted suicide when she thought Emma was dead. There was no way that Regina was only using her.

"Speak to me or Emma _ever _again, I will do worse than kill you," Regina spat before running off after Emma. She had to find her before Maleficent's words sunk in, before she could take them to heart. Her body protested all the way, but she didn't care. The last thing she intended was for a demon from her past to ruin them. That wouldn't happen on her watch.

It took her a few minutes, but Regina finally found her. She ran up to the tree and sank down onto her knees in front of her. "Emma." She reached out and took her face in her hands. "Emma, please, please don't take what she said seriously. Not about you. Nothing she said about you, about _us _is true. Everything… Everything she said about the past is true, but please, _please _don't believe I'm using you." She hadn't noticed the tears rolling down her cheeks.

Emma let out a shaky sigh. "You and her…?"

Regina closed her eyes and nodded, looking like just that admittance caused her pain. "It was a long time ago," she whispered.

"And you were just using her?"

"That's what I let her think," Regina answered. "It was easier that way. Easier than the truth."

"You loved her."

"It got in my way. I couldn't afford to feel that way, not about anyone. So I pushed her away. But we're different, Emma. Loving you is what helps me through everything. It's not in my way, it _is _my way. You're so important to me and if I ever lost you I'd never be the same again. Please don't leave me. Especially not because of the past. You _know _I'm not that person anymore."

"I'm not leaving you," Emma murmured. She lowered her legs and pulled Regina into her arms. "I'm not leaving you," she repeated.

Regina broke, tears of fear and relief flooding down her cheeks as she held tightly to Emma.

Emma pressed a kiss to her shoulder, holding her close. "It's alright," she soothed. "I'm not going anywhere." No matter how many times Regina broke down, it never got any easier or less painful to hear. "I told you I'll never stop loving you. And I won't. I'd also never, _ever _leave you while you're pregnant. You're stuck with me no matter what."

A laugh cut through the sobs when Regina realized they were still okay.

"There we go," Emma encouraged. "Do more of that." She could feel Regina smile against her neck for a moment before she lifted her head.

"Why did you run away?" Stray tears were still running down her cheeks.

Emma gently wiped them away with her thumbs. "Hearing all that just overwhelmed me and made me really angry, so I left before I did anything stupid."

"_I _almost did something stupid. I almost used my magic on her."

"But you didn't?"

Regina nodded. "But I didn't."

"That's good," Emma told her. "That's really good. If it were me I wouldn't have been able to stop myself. I would have fried her right there."

"So you're not mad that you had to hear new details from my past from someone else?"

"It wouldn't be fair if I was. Everyone has things in the past that they want to stay in the past, I know I do. I haven't told you everything about mine, so I can't expect you'd tell me everything about yours. Yeah, it stung a bit. But who doesn't get jealous when their partner's ex shows up?"

"Jealous? Really? Of her?"

"I can't stand the thought of you being anyone else's but mine. Obviously it's impossible for anyone to only be with one person in their whole life, but it's true. I'm jealous of everyone who got to have you before me, but at least it's nice to know there won't be anyone after."

Regina closed the distance between them and kissed her. Emma always treated her like she was the most special, most precious being in existence. Emma kept her close as she returned the kiss, almost possessively. That was alright, Regina didn't want to be anyone's but hers.

After a few moments, Emma broke the kiss. "We should get home."

Regina nodded in agreement and they rose to their feet.

Emma kept an arm wrapped around Regina's waist. "I'm sorry I scared you," she apologized as they started their walk. "I know how bad that must have looked."

Regina rested her head against Emma's shoulder. "I know. But I couldn't blame you, Maleficent made me sound like a horrible person. She made it sound like everything between us is a lie. If I were anyone else I would've believed her."

Emma tightened her arm around her. "Well then, it's a good thing we're not anyone else."

"I warned her not to come near us ever again, but I don't think she's going to listen. I threatened her but she doesn't think I'm going to act on it, I can tell."

"What did you say?"

"I told her I'd do worse than killing her."

"That does sound vague."

"Exactly. She'll doubt I'll follow through with anything. So we're going to have to be careful, make ourselves ready for the possibility of her showing up again."

Emma nodded. "I won't run off next time, promise."

**Author's Note: There is now a poll on my profile where you get to vote for Emma's Sheriff replacement for this fic! Please go vote, I'll appreciate all the help I can get in making this decision.**


	23. Chapter 23

"Emma, I'm at seven weeks. You're not going to feel anything. They're only an inch long at most." Regina was stuck to the bed now that Emma had decided to press her face up against her stomach. "And I doubt it would be comfortable if they were bigger and kicked you in the ear."

"Would you be quiet? I'm listening for heartbeats."

Regina laughed. "The only thing you're going to hear is my stomach digesting its food. Besides, isn't that what ultrasounds are for?"

"Ssh!"

Regina humored her, but she knew Emma wouldn't get anywhere.

Emma sighed after a few more moments. "Alright, you're right." She moved up so she was lying beside her. "But you're definitely a little bigger." She trailed her hand over the bump that could almost be credited to bloating by its size.

"July 29th."

"What's that?" Emma looked up at her.

"I'll be at ten weeks on July 29th. I said I'd do the ultrasound at ten weeks, so let's do it on the 29th."

Emma grinned. "Alright." She stroked the skin beneath her hand with her thumb. "So are you going to want to know the gender or genders, or do you want to be surprised?" She knew that nowadays the gender could be determined as early as twelve weeks.

"I think I want to be surprised. But let's prepare for both."

Emma nodded. "Okay, I can do that." She thought a moment. "Gender neutral colors for the nursery, then? Like green or yellow?"

"That sounds good. I think I have Henry's old crib in storage somewhere. It's just standard white, but we could paint it to match."

"I still can't believe we're doing this. I'll be able to see everything, no missing milestones this time."

"I'll be able to see the first three weeks this time around." It reminded Regina of a question she hadn't asked, but had always been curious about. "Did you have Henry for any of that time, those first three weeks?"

"Two days," Emma answered. "There was only two days before whatever adoption agency came for him. I didn't know it would take them that long. It made me not want to go through with it, but everything was already done. Everything was so much easier until I saw his tiny little face. I spent most of those two days apologizing to him and letting him know I already knew he was going to be a good boy and whoever got him would be lucky to have him."

Regina brushed the stray tear away that had escaped from Emma's eye. "And I was very lucky to have him," she agreed as she kept her hand on Emma's cheek in a gentle caress.

Emma leaned into her hand. "Thank you for giving him such a good life. When he brought me here I saw the house and was immediately relieved that whoever got him had the proper money to take care of a child, then you came running out all worried and I was so glad that he had someone who actually cared about him. I couldn't have asked for anything better for him. He got to have everything I didn't and everything I couldn't have given him if he stayed with me. We may have had some serious issues with each other after that, but my first impression of you was actually a good one."

Regina smiled, trying hard to keep her own tears at bay. That was actually something she really needed to hear, and it was even better that she got to hear it while pregnant. It made her feel better about how she'd do as a real mom. Sure, she had experience as a stepmother, though that hadn't gone well at all, and there was those twelve years as an adoptive mother, but she never actually got her chance to raise a child that was truly her own. She'd been incredibly nervous when she'd first brought the idea up to Emma, and those nerves only increased when her pregnancy was confirmed. Now she was more confident than ever before that she would be good. "Thank you." Emma earned a kiss for her kind words.

The women held each other close as they kissed, their souls stripped bare to each other.

Finally, Emma broke the kiss with a smile on her face. "It's still early," she purred. "Henry's asleep…"

Regina laughed softly. "Did you just soften me up so I wouldn't deny you sex?"

Emma shook her head, her smile never once fading. "No, your breasts are just incredibly distracting and they're turning me on."

Regina had to smile, that was typical Emma right there. "Oh, you. Just be careful."

Emma perked up. "Yes?"

"Yes."

Emma's smile widened and she rolled on top of Regina, straddling her thighs instead of her stomach. She pushed at the hem of Regina's nightgown until it bunched up and then pulled it off, casting it to the floor. "Damn." She took in the beauty of Regina's larger breasts. She leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on each of them.

Just those small touches made Regina's breath hitch in her throat. "Emma…" she murmured.

Emma smiled and cupped her cheeks, capturing her lips in a kiss that was hot and heavy, doing its job to increase Regina's arousal.

Regina arched into Emma, pressing closer as she returned the kiss, her inner thighs already becoming wet. She whimpered into the kiss, wanting desperately to be touched now.

Emma broke the kiss in favor of trailing a line of kisses down Regina's neck. She trailed her hand down Regina's body, pleasantly surprised when there was no underwear she had to remove, all that greeted her was sweet wetness.

"Oh, Emma, please..." Regina begged, pushing her hips forward so she could feel more of Emma's hand.

Emma smiled against the skin of Regina's neck as she cupped her burning sex. "What do you want me to do, Regina?" she murmured. She wasn't sure if she would want her inside.

"Use your hand," Regina answered with a moan as she pressed herself into Emma's hand again. "Rub against me," she clarified.

So it was stimulation not penetration that she wanted. Emma could work with that. "Alright." She continued her path of kisses, soon reaching her collarbone as she pressed her hand firmly against her, palm rubbing just where it was supposed to.

"Oh!" Regina threw her head back against the pillows, hips rising of their own accord.

Emma trailed her tongue along Regina's collarbone, pleased that such simplicity could drive her fiancée crazy. She continued rubbing her hand in circles, loving the gasps she was eliciting. She lowered her mouth, kissing and licking along her upper chest now.

Regina moaned and bit her lip to stop it from increasing in volume. The sensations being caused from opposite directions pushed together for a big pleasurable feeling to erupt in her middle. Nowhere did Emma's touch go unfelt. It was everywhere from the top of her forehead down to the tips of her toes. She had no doubt the pregnancy hormones had something to do with it, but it was certainly welcome. "Oh, Emma," she groaned out as she felt her tongue slip between the valley of her breasts. She gasped as the speed and intensity of Emma's hand picked up. "Oh…God…oh!" She was getting very close.

Emma started running her tongue along both breasts, leaving a glistening trail of wetness behind as she went. She could feel Regina's wetness increasing and it was starting to coat her hand and make everything a bit slippery. She could tell Regina was close because her body seemed to tense in anticipation. "Almost there, love," she promised. "Almost…" She rubbed even harder and after a few moments heard a loud gasp from Regina and felt her body begin to quiver. She rolled off of her in order to watch the affects of her work.

Regina was panting the whole time, though once she was down from her high the pants were more shallow.

"Satisfied?"

Regina turned her head to face her. "Oh, very."

Emma pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Good."

Regina turned full on her side and trapped Emma in her arms. "Your turn," she purred.

"Oh? You're up to that, huh?"

"Oh, yes." Regina pressed a kiss to her neck. "I'm very up for it." She trailed her tongue up to Emma's ear.

Emma shivered. "Well, there's no complaints here," she replied in a husky tone.

Regina smirked. "Take off your shirt."

Emma gladly followed the order.

"Mm, that's better." Regina pressed kisses all along the newly exposed skin. "Bra needs to go, too."

Emma unclipped it and shrugged it off.

"There we go." Regina kissed a line from Emma's upper chest all the way down to her nipple before taking it into her mouth.

Emma let out a soft moan. "Mm, Regina…" That woman had the perfect tongue, and she made great use of it, making sure her nipple was no more than a hardened bump when she released it to take in the other. Emma's hands tangled in her dark hair, pressing just enough to keep Regina's mouth right where it was.

Regina gave the second breast equal treatment as her hand snaked between Emma's legs, slipping the underwear down her thighs. In that moment, she was glad for Emma's habit of wearing oversized shirts to bed. After a few more moments, she released Emma's breast with a soft popping sound. She gently pushed her so that she was lying on her back. She pulled her underwear all the way off and then straddled her.

Emma grinned up at her. "What are you gonna do to me?"

"You'll see," Regina purred in a sing-song voice.

Emma chuckled at her apparent playfulness. Soon her lips were covered by Regina's, and she welcomed the invasion that was her tongue. Regina was thorough, her tongue leaving no inch untouched. Emma had already been hot and wet from what she did to Regina, and now it was ever increasing. She missed the contact when the kiss broke, but then she felt those luscious lips on her body and she couldn't complain. Those lips kissed down, down, down and she gasped when they reached their destination. "Regina!" Her hands grabbed the bed sheets tightly.

Regina's head was between her legs and that wonderful tongue of hers was making quick work of cleaning up that mess between her thighs.

"Mm…Oh!...Oh…Damn…Mm…Re-Regina…" Emma's back arched as she felt Regina lick, kiss, and suck that sensitive area between her legs.

Regina kept it up for a few moments before deciding to push her tongue inside her.

Emma moaned loudly. "Oh…Oh, Regina!" She loved this woman so much. There was absolutely no one she'd rather have. Her knuckles turned even whiter than they already were and she could feel her nails tearing through the bed sheets and tearing through the skin of the palms of her hands.

Regina dragged her tongue slowly along each of Emma's inner walls and then went back to the spot she knew Emma loved, brushing her tongue over it again and again, loving the short bursts of gasps and moans from Emma that she earned. There was nothing quite like feeling those inner walls clench around her tongue as Emma drew closer to her orgasm. It was so intimate. She kept it up until she felt her release, then withdrew so she could watch Emma go through the stages of her orgasm.

"Amazing as always," Emma panted out.

Regina kissed her again and Emma could taste herself through the kiss. "You're welcome," Regina murmured.

Emma wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close. "You're perfect in every way." She pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "It'll be so great being married to you."

Regina smiled. "Aww." She nuzzled her head against Emma's chest. "Likewise."

"Can I tell you something?"

"Of course."

"I started to like you the night of the fire. As in like-like, not just regular like."

"Really? Well, that's interesting."

"Why?"

"Because I think that's when I started liking you as well, I just tried to push it away and ignore it."

Emma grinned. "We were stupid to ever think we could sleep together without strings being attached."

"I'm glad we tried, though. We might not have ended up here if we hadn't."

"I'm glad we tried, too." Emma stroked Regina's hair. "My whole life I went from place to place trying to find home, and now anywhere you are is home."

Regina smiled. "You sound like you walked right out of a romance novel."

"You'd know, you've read plenty of them," Emma teased.

Regina gasped. "How long have you known?"

Emma chuckled. "Quite a while. I've even read a few. I know exactly where you keep them."

Regina groaned. "Leave it to you to unearth all my secrets. I don't think there's anything you don't know about me now."

"Hmm." Emma thought. "I don't know… I don't know everything that happened here while I was in New York, or when I ended up in the woods. But I'm alright with not knowing." She pressed a kiss to Regina's shoulder.

Regina sighed, trying not to think about it too much.

Emma tightened her arms around her, sensing the slight shift of mood. She stroked a gentle hand along her back. After a moment or two she pressed her lips to Regina's once more, wanting to offer her some comfort. She'd probably made her think of her mother, or rather, losing her mother.

Regina cupped her cheeks as she returned the kiss, deepening it, desperate to push any and all negative thoughts out of her mind.

Emma met the depth of the kiss, keeping Regina close as she helped her feel better.

The kiss only broke when the need for oxygen became too strong for the both of them.

"So," Emma murmured when the kiss broke. She thought of something that would distract her. "I can't remember what the other names on your list were. Care to refresh my memory?"

"Boys or girls first?"

"Girls."

"Okay. There's Erica, but spelle like the palm tree."

Emma nodded. "Okay. That's interesting."

"There's Amber, I've always liked that name, not sure why. There's Eva or Evanna, Katarina, and Melody."

"I like Katarina and Evanna, they're pretty."

"Boys now?"

Emma nodded. "Boys now."

"Okay, there's Steven, Christopher, Michael, Aaron, and Vincent."

"Not bad." Emma thought they were all pretty decent names. "Can I tell you some names I've thought of?"

"Of course."

Emma smiled. "Alright. Girls first. Elladora, Lilah, Magdalene, Sarah, and Tatiana."

"You managed to do all those in alphabetical order."

Emma laughed. "Well, do you like any of them?"

"I don't think I've heard of anyone named Elladora before. I like that."

"Okay. Boys now?"

"Go ahead."

"Blaine, Johnathan, Sebastian, Tyler, and Will or William."

"I like Blaine and Sebastian."

"So our options are Katarina, Evanna, Elladora, Blaine, and Sebastian?"

"I want to add one of my boy names to that list."

"Okay, which one?"

"Michael."

"Okay, options are Katarina, Evanna, Elladora, Blaine, Sebastian and Michael."

"Maybe we should add another girl and another boy name in case all four make it and they're all the same gender."

Emma laughed. "Alright. Pick another one of my girl names and I'll pick another one of your boy names."

"Magdalene."

"Alright… Steven."

"Official options are now Katarina, Evanna, Elladora, Magdalene, Blaine, Sebastian, Michael and Steven."

"Sounds good."

Regina reached across to the bedside table where her phone rested. "I'll put them in a note on my phone so we don't forget." She grabbed her phone and started typing the names in. Emma watched to make sure she didn't switch any of the names they decided on.

When Regina finished, Emma made her laugh by lowering her head and speaking to her stomach, "Hello possible Katarina, Evanna, Elladora, Magdalene, Blaine, Sebastian, Michael, Steven. I'm Mommy number two, but you can call me Mama when you come out. And now you have names, sort of, so don't be mean to Mommy or you'll get in trouble and we'll embarrass you by calling you your full names, even if you don't have them yet. We'll figure those out, too. And when you guys are big enough you should be really nice to Mama too, 'cause she really wants to feel you when you start kicking. Deal?"

"Oh my god, I don't know you." Regina turned her head away from Emma.

"What? You can talk to them but I can't?"

"I don't embarrass the both of us when I do it!"

Emma chuckled. "Don't deny it, you love it."

"I really don't."

"Oh, you so do."

"Do you know how ridiculous it is for you to try and start an argument while we're both naked?"

"It's not trying to start an argument; it's simply an attempt to get you to tell the truth."

"Okay, fine. Do you know how ridiculous it is for you to go truth-seeking while we're both naked?"

"It's only ridiculous if you make it ridiculous." Emma pressed her lips to Regina's stomach. "Mommy's crazy sometimes," she whispered. "But that's okay, I know how to rein her in."

"Oh, for the love of - ! Emma, I can hear you."

Emma giggled. "I know."

"Stop being such a child and get back up here. It's really strange when I have to speak past my breasts and I feel like I'm talking to them 'cause they're all I can see."

Emma cackled. "I'm tempted to just stay down here and speak for them."

"Emma Swan!"

"Regina Mills! We know each other's names! How 'bout that!"

"Ugh." Regina slid over on the bed until she could sit up and stand on the floor. "How badly do you want the feel the wrath of my pregnancy hormones? 'Cause I'm pretty sure I'm running out of ways to say stop and once I'm out I'll probably start throwing things at you. You've been warned."

Emma smirked and sat up in bed. "I'm not scared of you. Especially not when you're naked."

Regina just shook her head and grabbed her nightgown off the floor, pulling it back on. "You're lucky I don't make you make your own breakfast."

Emma laughed. "And turn down the opportunity to make everyone eat three courses of what you deem to be healthy food? Not a chance. You'd never relinquish your control on my diet."

Without a witty retort to give Regina simply blew a raspberry at her and left the room.


	24. Chapter 24

"Okay, your bright idea of the two of us setting these booths up alone sucks. Next time we get help. Whatever three make it to the next election are helping us or I swear to God there won't be a second election," Emma grumbled as she and Regina fought to get the line of five booths to stand correctly on their own. "And why _why _must there be five booths for all seven locations? And why seven?"

"Stop moaning. You're not pregnant. This is easier for you."

"Your bump is practically non-existent!"

"I'm not complaining about my size, I'm complaining about how tired I get just walking up and down the stairs at home. _This _is utterly exhausting for me."

"So again, I shall ask, why did you insist on us doing this alone?"

"We're the only two people in the town that can't vote for this, if we had help the help could try to vote before it's time and that wouldn't be right."

"Okay, why five booths then? Why _here? _This is the least populated area of the town."

"That doesn't mean that five people won't happen to want to cast their votes at once. Besides, if one area has less than the other people will start complaining and it will just be a hassle no one wants to deal with."

Emma let out a grunt as they finally got it all positioned right. "Ugh. Couldn't we have just…? I don't know, done something easier? Why not three?"

"One hundred isn't divisible by three. But it is by five. Lesser populated areas get twenty ballots per booth this way, more populated areas get fifty. It's just basic math."

"One hundred is also divisible by two."

"Two wouldn't be enough."

"You're complicated."

"So you've mentioned." Regina handed her one of the manila envelopes. "Here, I've already divided them into twenty, put them in the booths."

Emma took the envelope and did so. "So by your logic there's only two parts of the town that are majorly populated and the other five are lesser populated?"

"Yes. It's in the census numbers."

"If you say so… Why didn't we do this all in one day?"

"For one, that would be torture and I'd probably pass out. For two, the lesser populated areas don't need as much time to vote as the heavier populated areas."

"That still means five of these have to go down at the same time… I get setting them up a day in advance, but two?"

"If you don't stop complaining, I will hit you. Stop questioning me. There's a method to my madness. Besides, there's only two left to put up and then we'll be done." Regina headed back to the car.

Emma shrugged. At least the booths were collapsible. Thank God for small miracles. She followed Regina to the car and slid into the driver's seat. "You so owe me."

Regina smirked. "No, I think you got your reward in advance."

"Yesterday morning does not count! And actually I wasn't even talking about sex so calm your hormones."

Regina snorted. "Then tell me, dear, what _were _you talking about?"

"I don't know, a massage, maybe a gift card? Maybe a day of dragging you out for an actual date. We're engaged with kids on the way but we have never once gone out on a proper date."

"We are so backwards." Technically they shared a kid first, and then they started sleeping together, moved in together, and got engaged. Now, what, a first date? Didn't it typically go date, move in, engaged, marriage, sex, kids? At least traditionally? Well, they may be many things, but traditional was not one of them. "But if that's what you want… Just no Granny's."

"Alright, no Granny's." Emma had a smug smile on her face. That was easy.

A few minutes later they stopped to put up another group of collapsible booths. Once that was finished, they left again to the last location and did the same. It took overall about forty-five minutes before everything was set up and they could go home.

"I have an idea. Instead of gathering the town for all of five minutes to announce when the voting starts I'll just do a commercial."

Emma rose her eyebrows. "A commercial? When are you going to find the time to make a commercial between now and two days from now?"

"It can't be that hard to make a forty-five second commercial."

Emma snorted. "If you say so…" She'd taken a film class in high school. She'd even done school announcements a time or two. But she knew Regina would be stubborn about it anyway and wouldn't listen to her. She'd obviously never been involved in making a commercial before if she thought it was going to be that easy. She shook her head as she kept her eyes on the road.

"Really, all I'll need is a voice over of someone saying where the locations are and what dates they'll be open for voting, with like a backdrop of the first election ballot. Easy."

Emma said nothing. She'd find out the hard way, but there was no use trying to talk to her logically right then. Besides, maybe she'd surprise her and actually pull it off.

In five minutes Emma was pulling into their driveway. Regina exited first, beating her to the front door. They entered the house quietly, so as not to wake Henry. That loophole of leaving Henry home alone while he was sleeping seemed to be happening a bit more than either of them thought it would.

"You know, maybe instead of a commercial you could just put it in the newspaper," Emma suggested. "That would probably be easier."

"Unlike someone I know, I don't usually take the easier road. I'm more _complicated _than that."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She headed for the kitchen, ready for food.

Regina followed along behind her.

"What are you going to make this time, a peanut butter and honey sandwich?"

"Hey, that's good with or without pregnancy cravings." She beat Emma to the fridge. "And no, that's not what I'm going for." She pulled out a container of blueberries and a lemon.

Emma shook her head but didn't question it. She was used to Regina's strange cravings by now, though they always seemed to be changing. Sometimes she felt like keeping a list of all the cravings she'd witnessed so she could show the kids later just what exactly they caused their mother to eat. Or even just to tease Regina about it later. "Are you done?" She wanted in the fridge.

"Maybe. Maybe not."

Emma groaned. She was doing this on purpose. "Regina," she whined. "Move."

"Make me."

"I am not going to manhandle my pregnant fiancée so I can get to the fridge."

"Then I guess you're just going to have to wait."

"Wait for _what? _You're not even doing anything but sitting in my way."

"I've dealt with your childish behavior all morning, now you can deal with mine."

"Ugh!" Emma threw her hands up in the air and left the kitchen. Regina was totally abusing her pregnancy hormones and using them to her advantage. It wasn't fair. Emma couldn't retaliate for risk of pressing the wrong button, yet Regina got to push all of hers and test the limits of Emma's self control. Because that little minx knew Emma couldn't do anything. Not really.

Emma went off to the living room, plopping down onto the couch and turning on the television. For some reason it was on some 80's music video station.

_"Let's get physical…physical…"_

"No, no Olivia Newton-John, thank you." Emma grabbed the remote again and changed the channel. The channel she landed on was a re-run of the Desperate Housewives pilot. "Hey, Regina!" she called. "Come watch this with me."

Regina emerged from the kitchen with a bunch of blueberries and some lemon slices in a bowl. "Watch what?"

"This." Emma patted the spot beside her. "Watch the redhead."

Regina joined her on the couch. "Why?"

"Just do it."

_"No trouble at all. Now the red basket is filled with desserts for your guests. But the blue basket is just for you and Zachary. It's got rolls and muffins. Breakfast type things."_

_"Thank you."_

_"The least I could do was make sure you boys had a decent meal to look forward to in the morning. I know you're out of your minds with grief." A pause. "Of course I will need the baskets back once you're done."_

"Remind you of anyone?" Emma asked.

"No…"

"You liar! That is _so _you."

"I am nothing like that."

"Uh huh. Says the woman that came to my door bearing…wait for it…a basket of apples."

"So?"

Emma shook her head. "Just watch. She's very stepford wife, as are you."

"Huh?"

"You'll see."

Regina sighed, not sure what the whole point of this was, but she watched anyway.

Not too long later, the scene changed to a woman and her daughter about to walk into their home.

_"Mom, why would someone kill themselves?"_

Regina's eyes widened and she tensed. Emma sensed this and patted her thigh comfortingly.

_"Well… sometimes people can be so unhappy they think it's the only way to solve their problems."_

_"But Mrs. Young always seemed happy."_

_"Yes, but some people pretend to be one way on the outside when they're totally different on the inside."_

_"Oh. You mean like how Dad's new girlfriend is always smiling and says nice things but deep down you just know she's a bitch."_

_"I don't like that word, Julie." A brief pause. "But, yes, that is a great example."_

Regina snorted. She had to admit there was some clichéd humor there. "What _is _this?" she asked Emma.

"It's called Desperate Housewives and this is actually the first episode."

"I see…"

_"Andrew, I spent four hours cooking this meal. How do you think it makes me feel when you say 'it's okay' in that sullen tone?"_

Emma laughed. "See? Regina, that is you."

"I don't spend _that _long making food…"

"Oh, yes you do. You may not realize it sometimes, but you do. Ask Henry if you want."

Regina shook her head, adamant to stop the comparisons between her and the redhead onscreen.

_"You're doing drugs, aren't you?"_

_"What?!"_

_"Change in behavior is one of the warning signs and you've been as fresh as paint for the past six months. So is it crack? That would explain why you're always locked in the bathroom."_

"Oh, Jesus, Emma. Now I'm offended you compare me to her. I'm not that dumb."

A few lines later…

_"Hey! I work myself to the point of exhaustion to create a lifestyle for my family that is both elegant and wholesome. And it's astonishing to me that the only reaction I get for my efforts is cold indifference."_

"Okay, _that _sounds familiar," Regina reluctantly admitted.

"Huh, maybe divorce _is _an act against God," Emma mused when the redhead's husband on screen ended up passing out mere minutes after suggesting divorce.

"Bastard deserved that. You don't tell someone you want a divorce _in public," _Regina commented.

Both women laughed when the blonde housewife decked her husband who wanted to risk not wearing a condom during sex even though it was likely she'd get knocked up again as they already had like four kids.

"I like her," Regina stated.

A few scenes after that…

_"It means I'm so sick of your need to be so goddamned perfect all the time. I'm sick of the bizarre way your hair doesn't move. I'm sick of you making our bed before I've had my morning pee. You're this plastic suburban housewife with her pearls and her spatula who says things like 'We owe the Henderson's dinner.' Jesus, Bree. Where is the woman I fell in love with, who used to burn the toast and drink milk out of the carton? And laugh. I need her. Not this cold, perfect thing you've become."_

"…Ouch. He's an ass," Regina commented. No later than she finished talking, the redhead went into the bathroom and broke down. "That bastard made her cry. She _should _divorce him."

A few scenes after that, the friends were moving the recently deceased character's boxes out and discovered a letter.

_I KNOW WHAT YOU DID. IT MAKES ME SICK. AND I'M GONNA TELL._

_"What does this mean?" The brunette with the teenage daughter asked._

_"I don't know," the blonde answered. "But look at the post mark."_

_"She got this the day she died," the redhead stated._

_"Do you think this is why she…?" the darker skinned brunette trailed off._

_"Oh, Mary Alice. What did you do?" the brunette whispered._

That was the end of the episode.

Regina bumped Emma's shoulder with hers. "I hate you! Now I want to know what happened.""Well maybe I'll get you the boxsets for your birthday. I think there's like eight seasons."

"Why did you want me to watch this?"

"To point out the similarities between you and the redhead."

"Why?"

"Just because."

"And you think I'm weird."

"I never said that I wasn't weird myself. I know I am." Emma stood up. "And now, I'm going to get some food." She went off to the kitchen.

Henry walked down the stairs. "Hey, Mom."

Regina looked back over her shoulder and rose from the couch. "Hey, Henry."

"It's like noon and you haven't made breakfast yet."

"Is it really? Well, that's not entirely my fault. Emma distracted me. I'll get started on it now, if you like."

"Can you make pancakes?"

Regina laughed. "Yes, I suppose I can make pancakes today."

"Awesome!" Henry sped off to the kitchen.

"Hey, kid," Emma greeted. "What's up?"

"Mom's gonna make breakfast, even though it's technically brunch because it's lunch time and you distracted her."

Emma laughed. "Oh? Okay, yeah, I did. What's she making?"

"Pancakes," Regina answered as she walked into the pancakes.

Emma's eyes went wide. "Woah, mark the calendar, Regina's willingly making pancakes for breakfast!"

Regina chuckled. "I've done it before."

"Yeah, but it's been a long time," Henry stated.

Emma decided to actually mark the calendar. She grabbed a pen and walked over to it. On July 9, 2014 she wrote

_R makes pancakes for breakfast at lunch time willingly_

Regina shook her head. "Really? It's not exactly an event in history."

"It might as well be! I want to have proof," Emma reasoned.

"You're strange." Regina went to a cupboard and pulled out the pancake mix.

Emma put the pen back where it came from and opened the fridge, still wanting food even though she'd probably eat some of those pancakes. She found some string cheese and pulled out three sticks, figuring that would be enough to tide her over. She sat at the table as she unwrapped the first one.

Henry took the seat next to her. "So, I made up my mind."

"About what, dear?" Regina asked as she found the pan she was looking for.

"I'm going to give you away at the wedding."

Regina turned, not quite sure she heard right. "What?"

"It was my idea," Emma spoke up. "I brought it up to him when we found out you were pregnant for sure."

"She told me to think about it, so I did," Henry added. "And I decided I want to do it."

Regina smiled as her vision blurred. "Oh, Henry…" She placed the pan on the counter and walked around the table so she could give him a hug. She pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you."

"Er…you're kind of…squishing me."

Regina let go. "Sorry." She pulled back. She smiled at Emma. "I never would have thought of that. That's perfect."

Emma grinned. "I thought so too." She accepted the soft kiss Regina gave her. "Now get crackin' on those pancakes." She pushed her gently in the general direction of the stove.

Regina smiled and went back to the task at hand. She mixed what was needed and then poured the batter into the pan just at the size she knew Henry liked. Henry and Emma got three each, but Regina got five. She was eating for at least three, so it wasn't any more than she could handle.

"Why do you get so many?" Henry asked.

"I've got to feed your siblings, too," Regina answered. "There's at least two, could be more. I could very well be eating for five, and that would make one each."

That sounded crazy, but Henry didn't question it any more, choosing instead to cover his pancakes in syrup and dig in. After he'd demolished the first one, he did think of a new question, "Am I going to have to share my room?"

"Possibly," Regina answered. "But it won't be for a while if you do. You may not have to. It depends. If there's only girls probably not."

Henry nodded. "I don't think I'd want to share my room with a girl, anyway."

Emma laughed. "Still think we've got cooties, kid?"

"Maybe."

"You'll be in a whole new world once you start middle school. You may even find yourself having a girlfriend."

"Emma!"

Emma looked to her fiancée. "What?"

"He's twelve!"

"Exactly. I started dating when I was thirteen."

Regina looked to Henry. "No dating until you're sixteen."

Emma laughed. "Regina, that's ridiculous."

"Middle school is when grades begin to matter. I'd like him to be free of distractions until he's halfway through high school. By that point he should be on track for graduating anyway."

Henry laughed. "Don't worry guys. I'll probably be more interested in sports than girls."

Regina had never heard words from her son that brought her such relief. "Thank you. That, I can handle." She knew that school sports only kept the students that got good grades, so that was a welcome extracurricular activity. Young love was messy; she of all people knew that. Then again, for Regina all love seemed to be messy. It was better if Henry could avoid that for as long as possible. If she were completely honest, she didn't want him becoming romantically involved with anyone until college, but she knew that wasn't realistic.

The rest of breakfast went on in a companionable silence. Despite having more pancakes than the others, Regina was the one who ended up finishing first. She waited for Emma and Henry to finish theirs so she could take their plates and rinse them off before putting them in the dishwasher.

"You really should make these more often," Henry commented as he finished. "They're better than Granny's."

Regina smiled. "Perhaps I will. The babies certainly like them." She reached over and took his plate, stacking it on top of hers.

"Have you thought of any names yet?"

Emma nodded. "Yeah, kid, we have."

"If there's a boy could you maybe name him Tony?"

Emma raised an eyebrow. "You want a brother named after Iron Man, don't you?"

Henry grinned.

"I'll think about it," Regina answered.

Emma was surprised. "Just don't let the middle name be Stark. That would be a little too weird and would probably border on copyright infringement."

"Come on, Tony Stark Mills sounds cool!" Henry insisted. "So does Tony Stark Swan!"

Emma smirked. "We'll see."


	25. Chapter 25

Emma quickly raised her hands and backed a couple paces away, thinking, _Holy shit what did I do?! _Regina had been fine just a moment before, but in the same amount of time as it takes for one to flip a switch, her composure fell apart and she broke down. After a few moments Emma stepped closer to her again. "Regina…" She placed a gentle hand on her shoulder only for it to be roughly pushed away.

"Don't touch me!" Regina sounded angry.

"Okay…" Emma stepped away again and knelt down, trying to look up and catch Regina's eye. "What's wrong, sweetie?"

Instead of answering, Regina pelted a mango at her from the box on the counter.

If Emma hadn't raised her arms to block it, it would have smacked her in the face. "Woah!" She got back on her feet and backed away. "Whatever I did, I'm sorry!"

Another mango was pelted at her, only this time she wasn't so lucky and it hit her square in the chest.

"Ow!"

Emma tried to back out of the kitchen, but not before a third mango flew at her. However, instead of reaching its target it knocked a glass vase off of the table. Emma dove for it in attempt to catch it but it slipped right through her fingers and hit the floor, shattered glass flying in all directions.

Regina didn't seem to notice or care and charged forwards. Unfortunately, her feet were bare and she stepped on the glass, which proceeded to trip her with her momentum. Emma could do nothing as she fell, but thankfully she landed on her back instead of her front. Naturally, that only served to make the crying worse.

"Regina," Emma sighed her name. She could've dealt with the mood swing, could have just let her be until she calmed down, but whatever rage had taken over her pregnant fiancée had caused herself physical injury. "Regina let me help, baby."

Regina struggled up into a sitting position, but in the process managed to cut her hand as well.

"Okay, stop! Stop moving." Emma cupped her cheeks. "Stop, okay? I don't want you hurting yourself more." She started picking up the pieces of shattered glass, careful not to cut herself in the process. Once she was sure she had all of the bigger pieces, she threw them away. She grabbed the roll of paper towels and pulled some off, making a ball that she got slightly wet at the sink before kneeling down next to Regina. "This may be cold," she warned before pressing the partially wet ball of paper towels to her injured foot. She heard Regina gasp when it contacted the skin. The white was slowly turning red. The glass had slashed an angry diagonal line, but it wasn't too long or too deep. A bandaid would be able to cover it to prevent it from infection. Once the bleeding stopped, she threw the paper towel away and got more, wetting it again and this time using it for Regina's hand. As she kept the paper towel pressed to Regina's hand, she let the hand rest in her lap so she had a free one of her own. She reached out and stroked some of Regina's hair out of her face. "What was that, hm?" she asked gently. "Why were you throwing fruit at me?"

"Mood swing."

"Obviously. But was it triggered by anything?" If it was Emma would make sure that it never happened again.

Regina shook her head. "Just…took over."

Well, that made things a bit harder. Emma was beginning to think she needed to keep the woman away from glass. Each injury since they were together that Emma remembered Regina having was somehow caused by glass. "How's your back?" It would probably bruise, if the sound of it hitting the floor was anything to go by.

Regina winced as the pain of the fall came back to her at full force. "Hurts."

Emma checked to see how Regina's hand was doing and found that it was no longer bleeding. She threw the paper towel away. "Can I see?" she asked in regards to Regina's back.

Regina closed her eyes and nodded.

Emma shifted so she would be able to see and gingerly lifted the hem of Regina's shirt. There was already a dark purple bruise beginning to from in the center of her lower back. It was painful just looking at it. "Ow. You must've fallen pretty hard." She let the shirt fall back in place. Emma wrapped an arm around her waist, ready to hoist her up. "Let's get you on your feet, yeah? Then we can get a couple bandaids."

Of course, as Emma lifted her, she unintentionally put pressure on Regina's bruise, making the brunette cry out in pain. "I'm sorry, baby," Emma hastily apologized. At least she already got her on her feet, so she let her arm move higher up so she no longer was touching the bruise. She let Regina bury her head in her neck. She stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry," she repeated. These next seven months would be long and hard for the both of them, especially if Regina's mood swings were getting out of hand this early in the first trimester.

Emma did her best to soothe her, wanting her to be calmed down when they went upstairs in case Henry saw them. She stroked circles on her upper back. Eventually she felt her fiancée relax. "Ready?"

Regina nodded.

"Okay." Emma began leading her out of the kitchen.

How odd the past three days seemed to be. Just a couple days ago on the eighth they had some fun and picked names, yesterday they'd watched that episode of Desperate Housewives together, and now today there was a dangerous mood swing that involved flying fruit and broken glass. The days seemed far too different to happen in a row, alas, that was how it happened.

They reached the bathroom and Emma sat Regina down on the toilet before grabbing the box of bandaids. She pulled one out and knelt down so she could put it over the cut on Regina's foot, then pulled out a second one which she used for the cut on Regina's hand. "There we go." She placed a soft kiss to the now bandaid covered skin of her hand. "Be careful now, okay?"

Regina nodded. "Okay." A beat of silence. "Thank you…for putting up with me."

Emma cupped her cheeks and leaned forward, capturing her lips in a kiss. "You're not a problem or a nuisance."

Regina scoffed.

"You're not," Emma insisted. "And I will repeat it until you believe it."

"You're too good to me."

"You deserve the best." Emma brought her lips near Regina's stomach. "Doesn't Mommy deserve the best, kiddos?"

"You know they can't actually answer you, right?"

"Doesn't mean it doesn't count."

"They don't have mouths."

"I don't care. Their vote still counts so that makes at least three against one. You lose, I win. Which actually means you win. Because you get the best. As you deserve. Also, at seven weeks the mouth and tongue _do _start forming."

"How do you know that?"

Emma grinned. "Internet. You didn't think I was going to go through this pregnancy with you uneducated, did you?"

It was a good thing Regina had regained her filter, or else she would have replied with something really bad. "I didn't really think about it either way." Much better than her original thought.

"Well, of course I wouldn't. I may have been pregnant myself but it's been a while and I don't remember everything about it." She stood up and held out her hands. "Now, what would you like to do? Don't worry about the mangos, I'll get them and make sure there isn't any glass left behind. Do you want to lay down with the heating pad for a few minutes to see if it'll help your back?"

Regina took the offered hands and pulled herself to her feet. "That sounds nice." Even before the pregnancy, Regina had back pain from time to time and the heating pad was what helped best. She was sure it would do the same even though she was bruised.

"Okay." Emma walked to the room with her and as Regina sat on their bed, she went to the closet. She retrieved the heating pad from its spot on the top shelf and brought it over to the bed. She plugged the cord in to the closest outlet and placed the actual pad on the bed. "How hot do you want it?" she asked, holding the small setting control.

"Three," Regina answered.

"Alright." She turned the switch until it reached the number three and let it go. "There you go."

Regina laid back so the pad was mostly beneath her lower back.

"Remember, only fifteen minutes at a time."

"Yeah."

They each looked at the clock. Regina so she knew when to stop and Emma so she knew when to check that Regina stopped.

Emma walked over and pressed a kiss to Regina's forehead before leaving the room. She had three mangos to pick up from the kitchen floor to likely throw away, and then she had to make sure there weren't any tiny pieces of glass lingering behind.

Regina relaxed, closing her eyes as she felt the heat of the pad against her lower back. It was soothing, just the right temperature. She rested a hand atop her stomach, stroking it with the pad of her thumb over her shirt. She hoped one of them was a girl. Since she just had that instinct there was at least two, that increased the chances. She'd thought it would be easier raising a boy, that's why she requested a boy from the adoption agency that gave her Henry. Stereotypically, girls would be more emotional than boys and she thought having a boy would lower the level of emotional trouble she'd face. She couldn't have been any more wrong. That stereotype had been a lie. Another reason why she requested a boy was because she feared if she had a girl, she'd end up treating her just like Cora had treated her. She didn't trust that it wouldn't happen, and thought she could avoid it by getting a boy. But now she knew, especially now that she was with Emma, that it would never happen. Sure, she had used magic against Henry a couple times, but it was nothing compared to what Cora had used against her. And now she'd sworn off magic completely. She could handle a girl, now. She wouldn't be alone this time and she trusted herself more.

Katarina was her favorite name. At least on the female end, that is. Katarina Cora Mills or Cora Katarina Mills. Or Swan. She and Emma hadn't decided on whether they would hyphenate their names or if one would take the other's maiden name. Whatever they decided, Regina wanted everyone to have the same last name. She would legally change Henry's last name if she had to. Whether it was changed to Swan, Mills-Swan, or Swan-Mills she didn't know yet, but she wanted his to match his siblings' as well as herself and Emma. Like a proper family.

She was jolted out of her thoughts by the sound of soft knocking against the wall. She opened her eyes to find Emma in the doorway.

"Time's up."

Regina pouted. She was so relaxed, she didn't want to move. But she knew that using the heating pad too long would end up being counter-productive. She arched her back slightly, just enough to remove the pad, and tossed it to the floor.

Emma shook her head and retrieved the pad, unplugging the cord from its socket. She wound the cord around the pad and returned it to its place in the closet. Then she laid next to Regina on the bed. "Whatcha thinking about?"

"The possibility of having a girl and what our last names are going to be when we're married."

"Okay, well, I'd say the possibility of having a girl is 50/50 and as for the last names, what do you want them to be?"

"I think Regina Swan sounds better than Emma Mills."

Emma laughed. "I'd say you're right there."

"Whatever we choose, I want all the kids to match. So maybe we shouldn't completely drop Mills, Henry's been used to that being his last name for twelve years now. Maybe Swan-Mills?"

"Emma Swan-Mills…I like that. Regina Swan-Mills, yup, that sounds good too. Henry Swan-Mills…yup, all of them sound good."

"Katarina Cora Swan-Mills, Cora Katarina Swan-Mills, those don't sound bad, either."

"So…Swan-Mills, then?"

"It would seem so."

Emma took one of Regina's hands and laced their fingers together. "We've found ourselves a common last name."

"That we have." Regina smiled and raised their connected hands, pressing a soft kiss to Emma's. "Do you still want an October wedding?"

"Right now yes, but we can always bump it up. Let's see how many babies we're having at the ultrasound before we make any solid decisions as for when it should be, alright?"

Regina nodded. "Okay." Waiting at least until then did make sense. What if she ended up carrying four? She could only imagine how huge she would be by October if that were the case. "Until July 29th, then. I set up the appointment, by the way. It's at two."

"When did you set it up?"

"When you were called away yesterday."

"Of _course _you do it when I'm not here."

"Well we already agreed on it, I didn't think it was necessary for you to be here. I'd just thought of it and you happened to be gone. I wanted to set it up before I forgot."

"Okay, I guess it doesn't really matter as long as I get to be there."

"Of course you get to be there. You'd be crazy to think I'd go alone. No way. I'm going to be extremely nervous, I'll need you there."

Emma smiled. "Aww." She pressed a kiss to her cheek. "You're adorable."

Regina huffed. "Since when is honesty adorable?"

"Since it's you." Emma kissed her cheek again and again, covering it with kisses until the brunette turned her head to connect their lips.

Emma smiled into the kiss and returned it, squeezing the hand in her own gently. "I love you," she murmured when it broke. She kept her face close, close enough that the tips of their noses were touching.

"I love you, too." Regina rubbed her nose against Emma's in an Eskimo kiss.

Emma smiled, finding the action adorable as well. It was one that rarely happened. She pressed a kiss to Regina's forehead and stayed close.

Regina shifted closer and Emma was happy to take her into her arms. She was careful not to touch her lower back as she held her. Regina nuzzled her head against Emma's shoulder, content.

"So, Katarina, huh?" Emma asked.

"I really like the name."

"I like Blaine for a boy."

"Blaine Swan-Mills. Not bad."

"So Katarina or Cora Katarina for a girl and Blaine for a boy?"

"I think that would be okay."

Emma smiled. "Awesome. I love you."

Regina laughed. "You like the name that much, huh?"

"It's what I would've named Henry if I kept him."

"Oh. That makes sense, then."

"Yeah. You know what other girl name would sound good?"

"What?"

"Evanna Regina Swan-Mills."

"Seriously? My first name as a middle name?"

Emma shrugged. "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, I suppose. Just not something I would've thought of."

"Well, if there ends up being four, and three of them are girls, we can name them all after everyone. Cora, you, me, and Henry. There can be Katarina Cora or Cora Katarina, Evanna Regina, ummm…Elladora Emma or Magdalene Emma, and then there can be Blaine Henry."

"All of those _do _sound good…" Regina admitted.

"Or if there's only three we can drop Elladora or Magdalene."

"Why not Evanna?"

"Because Cora Katarina or Katarina Cora and Evanna would be adorable sister names. Plus Evanna Emma doesn't sound as good as Evanna Regina. But if there's only two we can drop Evanna."

"You're assuming there will only be one boy no matter how many children I'm carrying."

"Yeah, well, maybe I just want a bunch of girls. Girl names are prettier and we've thought of a bunch of pretty girl names."

"Please tell me we're not going to be the next couple that winds up on a show like 19 Kids and Counting."

"Well maybe, just _maybe _a few years after these ones are born I'll want another turn."

Regina's eyes widened. "Even if I have four, which will make five kids total?"

"Maybe."

"And what if _you _would end up having four?"

"Then we'd have nine kids."

"You're insane."

"I just said maybe. Besides, we don't know how many you have yet. And maybe not all of mine would take, anyway. If you have two and I have one we'd only have four, counting Henry. And then we'd be balanced. You'd have given birth to two and I'd have given birth to two."

"I can't believe I'm not even in the second trimester and we're already talking about _more _kids."

"I didn't say I absolutely wanted more. I'm not even half sure I want more. I was just saying that I might. 'Cause come on, the babies will be adorable and then they'll start growing up and maybe by that time we'll want more babies."

"We probably couldn't do another twelve year wait. Time is moving forward again, and even though I likely _could _freeze time again, I probably won't."

"I didn't say anything about a twelve year wait or freezing time again. Your imagination is going a bit haywire. If anything it would be a three to five year wait. And that's only _if _we one hundred percent decided to have kids again."

"This is giving me a headache."

"Alright, sorry." Emma pressed a kiss to her temple. "I'll stop."

"Thank you." Really, Regina wanted to get through this pregnancy first before thinking of another, regardless of whose body it would be next time if there was a next time.

Emma trailed her hand down to Regina's stomach and let it rest there. "I'll wait to meet you guys before I decide, how does that sound? Mama still loves you."

Regina chuckled. "I think you're starting to talk to them more than I do now."

"Well, you get to be around them longer. Nine, ten months longer. I'm just trying to get them used to me. I'm pretty sure they're already used to you."

"Uh huh."

"Get used to it, I'm not going to stop until you're in labor."

"I'll hold you to that, Miss Swan. I swear, if you continue talking to them _during _labor –"

Emma laughed. "I won't do that, I promise. You'll need my attention a bit more than they will. It's going to be a good thing we'll be in a hospital, 'cause I'm almost one hundred percent positive you'll end up breaking my hand. If your strength during your hangover last year is anything to go by, that is."

"You're comparing strength during a hangover to strength while giving birth? I think those will be very different."

"Yes, but you're still strong as hell. And if you're carrying multiples…both of my hands will probably end up broken."

"They better not; I'm going to need help. From you, specifically."

"Then don't break them."

"I don't think I'll have a say in the matter of how hard I'll squeeze your hand."

"You kinda do…it all depends on whether or not you get an epidural, or even if you do water birth or not."

"Water birth?"

"You know, water birth. Like giving birth in a big warm pool. I've heard it's a lot easier on the body. Not that I've actually had the chance to experience it. I didn't really have a choice as to how Henry came out."

"Water birth sounds like something for dolphins…I'm not a dolphin."

Emma laughed. "I never said that you were. But it's an option that you should definitely look at, since I gather it isn't one that's offered in the Enchanted Forest."

"No, it wasn't. But I suppose since I'm not there anymore I might as well take advantage of modern techniques available."

"Yes, modern techniques are good."

Regina closed her eyes. "I'm tired now."

Emma smiled. "Alright. Go to sleep." She pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

**AN: These past couple chapters have been in daily increments as far as when they take place, and I will continue to do so until it's July 18, 2014 in the story which is when the ballots will be counted and the three finalists will be announced either that day or a few days later. This means that voting will stay open until September 3****rd**** 2013 for this round. The two that don't make it will be removed from the poll and then voting between the finalists will take place. At this moment in time Ruby has 4 votes, Belle has 2 votes, and Dr. Whale has 1 vote. Don't forget to vote for your favorite while you still can! **


	26. Chapter 26

Regina sat on the couch with her knees drawn up in front of her, as far as they would go, eyes staring straight ahead but not looking at anything. She'd only recently realized the previous day was the mark of the fourth month since the battle that consequently took her mother's life. The mark of the fourth month since she'd been orphaned. Emma had been called into work a couple hours before, and she was sure Henry still didn't believe them about what Snow did, so she was all alone in her depressive thoughts.

She kept replaying those final moments, thinking over and over again of the different ways she could've prevented it from happening. The major one, of course, was simply not returning her mother's heart to her body. But maybe there was some magic she could have done to prevent the progress of the damage before it became too big. Maybe, just maybe if she wanted her mother to feel again, she could have tried someone else's heart to see if it would work the same. There had certainly been plenty to choose from in that vault, hearts that had been taken and long forgotten about. Hearts that weren't missed. Hearts that only beat because she'd allowed them to. Surely having someone else's heart would have been better than having no heart at all.

A tear rolled down her cheek. She knew there was no point in those thoughts. Nothing would bring her back. She knew that from all those years she had attempted to resurrect Daniel. What hurt more than that was the fact that the memories she had of her couldn't be looked back on fondly. At least, not until those last few moments. But those were too painful to think of for too long. They were what crushed her the most. Those last words had been so simple, but they'd spoken volumes to the woman who had spent most of her life, especially her early years, thinking she was never good enough. That she never would be. For anything. Certainly not for her mother. But in those last moments, Cora had told her she would have been enough.

A gasp escaped her as her composure crumbled a little bit more. Why did her mother come at all? Why did she find her? If she hadn't, none of this would have happened. Her mother would have been alive and that would have been okay, as long as she stayed far away from Regina's family.

Regina didn't hear the sound of the door being opened as she lost all control and broke down at the same time. Her face slumped forward and hid in her knees.

Emma had just locked the door behind her when she heard it. She followed the sound, quick on her feet, hoping Regina hadn't hurt herself again. After the day before, she was a bit apprehensive to leave her on her own with just Henry for company, but she had little choice in the matter as she was still actively Sheriff.

Emma was relieved that Regina didn't appear to be physically hurt, but the relief didn't last long as she really didn't like seeing her upset. "Regina?" She walked over to the couch, trying to step loudly so Regina would be aware of her presence. It didn't seem to work so she placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Brown eyes peered up at her briefly before closing again as she buried her face further into her knees.

Emma sat down beside her. "Did something happen?" She could see rather than hear that Regina was trying to take in deep breaths.

Finally, Emma heard a muffled, "Do you know what yesterday was?"

"Uh…" Emma thought. "Thursday?"

A loud sniff. "It was the tenth."

The tenth, the tenth, what was so special about – "Oh… _Oh." _Emma wrapped an arm around her. "Come here, sweetie." She gently guided her closer until she was half resting against her chest. "Just let it out." She stroked her hand along her back, careful not to go too low. She pressed a kiss to the top of her head and let her lips linger there as she closed her eyes. She wished there was more she could do to ease the pain.

Regina wrapped one arm around Emma's waist and the other looped around her neck as she buried her face further into Emma's chest.

"There we go," Emma whispered. "Let go. It's okay; you don't have to hold back." All she could do was hold Regina when she felt the crying become more intense. She blinked rapidly to keep her own tears at bay. It absolutely tore her apart to feel and hear the sobs coming from Regina that seemed endless. People in love were supposed to be happy. People engaged to be married with children on the way were supposed to be happy. But it would seem the mixture of death and hormones got in the way of that. But love also meant staying with someone through thick and thin, and that was exactly what Emma intended to do, even if it meant she had to maintain enough strength for the both of them.

"I never thought it would hurt so much…" With her father, she knew what to expect. She knew how it was going to happen, that it would be on her own terms, and he even encouraged her to do it. He wanted her to have her shot of happiness and he had been willing to sacrifice anything, even his own life, to make it happen. It was necessary. She had been able to make it as painless as possible, and it didn't turn her world upside down in a way that she hadn't expected. Her mother had been a completely different story. She had no idea what was going to happen when she put that heart back in her chest. She had been hopeful this time, not hopeless like the last. It wasn't a last resort. It was an attempt at a fresh start, true, but it wouldn't drastically change as much for others as her father's death, had. No, it was only meant to give her and her mother a second chance. Though it was quick, Regina doubted it had been painless. Poison was never brewed with the intent of a merciful death.

"It'll fade," Emma promised. "It will never go away, but it will fade in time." She pressed another kiss to the top of her head. "And I'll be here with you every step of the way until it does. And I'll be here with you every step of the way afterwards. I'll always be here whenever you need me."

Regina's grip tightened on her, thankful for her words and her presence. Emma _was _always there whenever she was needed, save for that week she spent in a coma that seemed so far away now. "I love you," she choked out.

"I love you, too, sweetheart. I love you, too."

**AN: I apologize for the shortness of this chapter. My muse just wasn't having it today. Tomorrow will be better.**


	27. Chapter 27

"So, your birthday's in three days," Emma stated.

"It is," Regina confirmed.

"Want to do anything for it?"

Regina shrugged. "I don't know. For 28 years I've gotten older but never aged. And now that I am actually aging I don't really know how to celebrate anymore."

"Uh, cake and ice cream? Candles? Maybe a candle lit dinner? Presents? That's how everyone else does them."

"I'm not exactly everyone else."

"Okay. We don't have to do anything. I just thought you might like something special this year." Emma was going to get her something regardless. She wasn't going to make a huge deal out of it if Regina didn't want her to, though.

"I've got you, I've got Henry, and I've got these babies. I'd say I've already got my something special this year."

Emma laughed. "Alright then. But don't think you're getting out of presents."

"Emma…"

"No, I'm getting you something." She pressed a kiss to Regina's cheek. "No ifs ands or buts about it."

Regina sighed. "Fine." She knew when she had no choice.

"So, when are the ballots gonna get counted?"

"Next week. Friday. Gives everyone plenty of time."

"Who do you think will make it to the final three?"

"I don't know, dear. That's what the ballots are for."

"Oh, come on. You're not even going to make an educated guess?"

"Nope."

Emma shook her head. "You're no fun."

"I'm pregnant. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it."

Emma laughed. "Okay then…"

"I have an idea. You should go to the store for me."

"Okay…why?"

"We're out of some things and I don't feel like going anywhere."

"You can stay here by yourself then 'cause if I'm going somewhere I'm taking the kid. I have to have company or I'll be bored."

"Fine," Regina replied with a dismissive wave. She handed her the list she'd already made.

"Uhh… Why is cat food on here?"

As if on cue, a small Calico kitten peeked out from behind Regina's legs and meowed.

"Holy shit! Regina, where did that come from?!"

"The backyard, I'm assuming. But look how adorable it is." Regina picked up the small fluff ball. "Look at it, Emma." She held it close to Emma's face, which the kitten then proceeded to lick.

"I… No wonder you don't want a birthday celebration." Emma sighed. "You know cats aren't supposed to be around babies, right?"

"I'm pretty sure that only applies to sleeping babies. And I'll make sure they're apart then."

"Great, you're already attached to the thing. Fine, keep it, but its health is all on you. I might feed it but I refuse to clean up after it." Not wanting to be blackmailed further, Emma left the room. "Henry! You're coming to the store with me."

Soon it was just Regina and the kitten in the house. "Hi there cutie pie." It nuzzled against her hand and purred.

She'd literally found it sitting in the kitchen like it owned the place about half an hour previous. Perhaps the pregnancy hormones had something to do with it, but it was cute and cuddly and she wanted it. It obviously liked her, too. It didn't have a collar, so it didn't belong to anyone. She was going to bring it up to Emma in a different way, but hadn't got the chance to so she went with plan B. There _were _things they had run out of that they needed, anyway.

"Hmm… What should I call you? Something that works both ways, I have no idea what gender you are." She thought about stars and astronomy. Those were pretty gender neutral. "Hm, what's a name that isn't used in those ridiculous Harry Potter movies that Henry's so fond of?" Sirius was out. Orion was out. Then there were moons. "How about Callisto, do you like Callisto?"

The kitten mewed.

"Yes? Okay. You shall now be known as Callisto." She kissed its furry head and set it down on the floor. Callisto the Calico. It seemed appropriate.

Apparently Callisto wasn't done getting attention because it then proceeded to sit on Regina's feet.

"Oh, you're not done with me? Okay." Regina picked it back up and carried it over to the couch, letting it sit in her lap.

Callisto rubbed its head against her stomach and stretched, its paws dipping into Regina's shirt and pulling the material slightly down.

Regina laughed. "Hey, your paws don't go there." She picked it up and set it down in her lap once more. "Just stay right there." She scratched it behind the ears and it purred again. "There. Good kitty."

Regina became so preoccupied with the cat that she barely noticed when Emma and Henry got back.

"Do I need to be jealous of that thing?" Emma asked when she saw the kitten had Regina's full attention.

"This _thing _has a name," Regina announced.

"Oh?"

"Yes. It's Callisto."

"Huh. Interesting. Anyway, I don't know what _Callisto _would like, so I got it both regular dry food and canned food. As well as something to eat it from, and a collar, a litter box, a bed, and some other stuff. There's a lot of stuff you didn't have on that list." 

Regina smirked. "If you were trying to get me to think you don't like cats you've completely failed."

"I never said I did, I never said I didn't. Either way, I know what they need."

"Of course you do. You're the daughter of Snow White. It probably runs in your blood."

"Oh God, so the whole singing to woodland animals thing is actually true?"

"That girl was always in the woods. Always."

"Okay, that's enough family history for me." Emma really hadn't needed to know that the clichéd character had truth to it. She started to put the stuff away and got Henry to help her. She even set up the cat stuff.

"Here." Emma tossed the collar to Emma when she was done. "It might be a little big, but it should be adjustable."

"You got it a collar with a bell?"

"Yeah, how else are we going to keep track of it?" She replied in a 'duh' tone.

Regina chuckled and slipped in on Callisto, tightening it until it fit without looking like it would fall off. "There you go."

Callisto hopped off her lap, following its little nose to the smell of food that was waiting for it in the kitchen, bell jingling all the way.

"You're lucky I'm not allergic," Emma stated as she took a seat beside Regina. "Wow, that little thing is shedding like crazy." She brushed the cat hair off Regina's lap and onto the floor.

"Use its name."

"Fine, Callisto is shedding like crazy." She chuckled as she saw a line of fur that went up to Regina's shirt. "Geez, was Callisto trying to cop a feel or something?" She continued to brush the hair off. "Did you let in a horny tom cat?"

"It's just a kitten. A kitten that I don't know the gender of. But I'm starting to think _you're _the horny tom cat. You're practically petting me now and you've got all the hair off already."

Emma smirked. "Yeah, well, can't say I'm sorry."

Regina grabbed her hand. "Stop it, you. Henry could come in at any moment." She pushed Emma's hand onto Emma's own lap. "Hands to yourself."

Emma pressed a kiss to her neck.

"Emma!"

"You only said _hands_. Do you feel my hands? No." Emma kissed a trail along her neck.

"You smartass you know what I mean." Regina gently pushed her away. "There's a time and a place. The least you could do is wait until Henry goes back upstairs. Or do you _want _to help me give him the talk already?"

Emma sighed and sunk further into the couch, still close but a respectable distance away. "No," she huffed. Regina brought up a good point. The talk wasn't actually something she wanted to give at all, but she supposed she didn't have a choice. It appeared the only say she got was whether or not it would happen in a few moments if Henry caught them. And that choice was obviously no. "You don't play fair."

Regina smirked. "No, dear. Where would the fun be in that?"

**AN: According to the word counter, this chapter **_**is **_**longer than the last one, even if it may not look like it.**


	28. Chapter 28

**AN: To make up for no chapters yesterday, you shall get two today!**

"Emma, have you – woah, what the hell was that? What are you watching?" Regina was now scarred with the image of a cow getting vertically chopped in half, and it was a sight she couldn't unsee.

Emma looked back at her. "Oh, uh, a show that started last year. It's interesting."

"A _horror _show?"

"Something like that. It _is _based off a Stephen King book."

"…The significance of that escapes me."

Emma sighed. Of course it did. "That's kind his thing. He writes really creepy books and then sometimes people make them into movies or tv shows, like this one. This one actually reminds me of an extremely amplified version of the curse. Everyone's trapped in a little town and cut off from the rest of the world and they can't get out, no one else can get in. Except nothing can get rid of it."

"Uh huh… I don't recall animals getting chopped in half when the curse went up."

"That's why I said extremely amplified. And no one's crazy here. In this the entire town is fucking insane. But it _does _take place in Maine."

"Alright, well, I've had my fill of that." Regina shook her head. "I'm just going to continue looking for my cat."

Emma's eyebrows went up. "It's been a day and you've already lost it?"

"No, lost track. There's a difference. Callisto's so tiny, he, she, it could be anywhere."

Emma sighed. "Have Henry help, I really want to watch this."

"Can't imagine why," Regina mumbled under her breath. Emma may have roped her into watching that Desperate Housewives show, but there was no way there would be a repeat performance of that with whatever the hell the show Emma was watching now. She turned and headed for the stairs, looking out for a ball of multi-colored fur the whole way.

Soon enough she reached the top of the stairs. "Henry!"

"Yeah?"

"Have you seen the cat?"

"Not for a while… Did you lose him already?"

"Not lost. Misplaced." Regina went into their bedroom. Nowhere she could see, but Callisto could be hiding under the bed. "Henry!" she called again.

A couple seconds later Henry stood in the doorway.

"Can you check under the bed? I can't exactly get on my stomach right now."

Henry sighed and walked over to the bed before dropping onto his hands and knees. He lifted the bed skirt and peeked his head underneath. His eyes scanned the darkness until he found little eyes staring back at him. "Yup, he's here." He reached an arm under and stretched out. Eventually the small thing ran forward instead of backward and Henry caught the gruff of its neck, pulling it out from underneath the bed. He stood up and handed the cat over. "There."

"Thank you." Regina leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"Uh huh." He scratched behind the kitten's ears before leaving the room.

Regina kissed the top of its head. "You need to get bigger so I can see you better." She smiled when it nuzzled its nose against her chin. "But stay cute and fluffy." She carried it back down the stairs and sighed when she saw Emma's show wasn't over yet. She really didn't want to watch any more of it, but she swallowed her pride and plopped down on the couch next to Emma.

"Thought you didn't want to watch this."

"I'm not watching. I'm not listening. My eyes and ears are on Callisto. That doesn't mean I don't want to be close to you."

"Aww, you're adorable. Can't stay away."

"Now why would I want to stay away from my soon to be wife?"

"Because of my taste in television?"

Regina laughed. "You're cute when you're wrong." She smiled as Callisto curled up in her lap and fell asleep.

"Holy shit." There was an all out brawl onscreen, a couple guys just wailing on each other. "You said jousting was entertaining, right? This is kind of like that, minus suits of armor. And the horses. And the spears."

Regina shook her head. "I'm not even going to look up. Without the presence of those things, it's nowhere near jousting."

Emma glanced over to her and saw the sleeping kitten. "You'd seriously rather watch a cat sleep than what's on the television?"

"I'm already scarred from seeing that cow get chopped in half. I really don't want to see more."

"That was just part of the opening credits. And yeah, okay, it happened in the pilot too, I think. But it's not something the show makes a habit of. Even though the town's population keeps shrinking because everyone's batshit crazy and are constantly killing each other."

"Yes, I'd much rather a sleeping kitten."

Emma shrugged. "If you say so. I think it's going to end soon-ish, anyway. It's been over twenty minutes."

"Good." When it was over Regina assumed she'd gain Emma's full attention.

"I have an idea for something to do on Saturday." Emma would kill two birds with one stone. She wouldn't tell Regina that it would be for her birthday and she didn't think it would be expected as her birthday was on Tuesday, not Saturday. And she really did want to introduce Regina to the fabulous world of Rocky Horror.

"Oh?"

"I'll tell you when this is over."

"Okay…" Regina wondered why Emma even brought it up if she was going to wait to explain. Then again, that was Emma. All half-thoughts.

"Oh God that is so wrong," Emma groaned.

Curious, Regina lifted her head to see a redhead woman and a dirty blonde or brunette haired man kissing on the screen. There was nothing wrong in her eyes. "How? Straight people bug you?"

Emma laughed at the absurdity of that question. Clearly if they did, Henry wouldn't exist. "What's wrong is that he killed her husband and she has no idea."

"Oh." She supposed that did change things a bit.

Soon enough, the episode wrapped up, but as per usual, it ended with a cliff hanger.

"Anyway." Emma turned the tv off and turned on the couch to face Regina fully. "Saturday we should see a movie. But it's R so Henry can't come. Think of it as that date you owe me. I have a pretty good idea you've never actually gone to a movie theater."

"What's the point when I have television?"

Emma bit back her laugh. Rocky Horror wasn't just any movie. Watching it at home was nowhere near the experience one got when they went to a theater. "It's a special movie." That was as far as Emma would explain because she didn't want to give everything else away. "One that is so much better to watch at the theater. I know they play it here, I've been before."

"So when you say you have an idea what you really mean is I have no say in the matter and we're going anyway."

Emma grinned. "You catch on quick."

"I suppose it would be nice to get out of the house for once for something that isn't related to work…"

"Yes, that's the spirit. You'll have fun."

Regina sighed. "Does this mean Ruby will have to watch Henry again?"

"Unless you can think of someone else better suited for the job." They hadn't gotten around to reuniting Henry with Emma's parents yet. They were each a tad uncomfortable that even with supervision someone would let something slip, especially with recent news that Snow's memory was coming back in fragments. Sometimes the simplest things would trigger a piece of her memory back. It wasn't easy to accept or know what to do when Snow lost her memory to begin with, but it would only be harder when Snow remembered the one thing Emma and Regina would rather her not. Henry could say something that triggered it, and so could Regina if she were there. Neither knew how Snow would handle the memory returning to her if it ever did. Or how she'd handle the information she now knew of the approaching wedding and the pregnancy.

Regina sighed again. She'd take Ruby any day over Snow and Charming at the moment, maybe for the rest of all existence. It was sad that she'd put her trust in a werewolf over Henry's own grandparents, but no one could blame her for being hesitant to put her trust in Snow after what she'd done. Sure, it could be viewed as highly hypocritical because it was one time in comparison to a countless many, but Regina had separated herself from the person she'd become that had done all those horrible things. She supposed Snow's amnesia had acted as a separation of its own right, but it was obviously faulty and temporary. "No, Ruby will have to do."

"I know you don't like it, but just remember, when Henry's a bit older he won't need to be babysat and he'll probably be the one to do the babysitting of his siblings. We won't need Ruby for too much longer."

Regina nodded. Emma did have a point.


	29. Chapter 29

"So, tomorrow's your birthday."

"Yes, Emma, I'm aware."

"Are you sure you don't want cake or anything? I'm sure Henry would love an excuse for cake."

"I don't want cake. You're already forcing presents on me."

Emma smirked. "Well, you forced a cat on me. Shouldn't I be able to even it out?"

"What, by bringing in a dog or a gerbil?"

"No, by bringing in cake in addition to presents. Though come to think of it, I should buy a ferret in revenge. Or maybe a bunny. Or, better yet, an ant farm."

"You are not bringing ants into this house!"

"They'll get in on their own anyway…"

"And that is why we have bug spray."

"Come on, I could find red velvet cake. I know you like that."

Regina sighed. "How many ways do I need to tell you no?"

"How about a cupcake, just for you?" Emma reminded herself of her birthday right before she came to Storybrooke. "There doesn't even have to be a candle. If you didn't want any celebration at all, why did you tell me when your birthday is?"

"I don't know, momentary lapse of judgment? I'm ancient, okay? I'm ancient with a body that looks half my actual age. I've had many lives already. I've had my childhood before I fell into magic, my early adult years, or more like year before I was queen, then I had those many queen years, then my Storybrooke life during the curse before Henry, my Storybrooke life during the curse with Henry, and now my Storybrooke life after the curse with you and Henry and these babies on the way and I feel like a fucking vampire. I interrupted the aging process of everyone in this town, save for you and Henry. I cheated. I should be in some old folk's home by this point or buried in the ground. So if you must know _that _ is why I don't want to celebrate my birthday. I shouldn't even be here."

Emma had known that there was quite an age difference between herself and Regina; the brunette had watched the blonde's mother grow up for crying out loud, she just never once stopped to think that it actually bothered her. When Emma had first arrived, Regina had seemed relatively okay with her life, if not completely content. She never before got the impression that Regina didn't want to be around, or that she thought she shouldn't be.

"Regina…" Now she understood just why exactly Regina tried to die last year. Without Emma, Regina was giving up a life she'd thought she had outstayed her welcome of. Without Emma's love, without her very life, Regina was done. That had been why Regina wasn't thinking of Henry. She'd already lost one love, her marriage had been loveless, and Regina had crumbled under the second heartbreak. Emma was literally what kept her going, and now, Emma hoped, the babies she carried were, too. She pulled her fiancée into her arms, holding on tight. "I understand," she murmured. "I understand but I don't agree. You should be here. You belong here. You're needed here." She pressed a gentle kiss to her neck. "By me, by Henry, and most importantly by the children you're carrying. I don't care how old you are. This family has many, many long years ahead that you're going to be present for. I don't care if you are a damn vampire, I'd gladly be one too if it meant more time with you." She stroked a hand up her back and pressed a few kisses to her shoulder. "I'll stop pushing you about your birthday."

Regina managed to keep her composure, her head resting on Emma's shoulder. "Thank you," she whispered, the two words holding a lot of weight. She was thanking her for many things, maybe even everything.

Emma kept her close, one hand idly trailing through Regina's hair. She toyed with the ends before observing, "It's longer now." When one's around someone as often as Emma was around Regina, it took longer to notice things like that as they happen slowly. Regina's hair now reached her shoulders as Regina didn't bother cutting it anymore to keep it at the short length she'd maintained ever since Storybrooke was created. One reason it had remained so short all that time was because it actually never grew. The shortness was an affect of the curse, but she only kept it short for a while after the curse broke before she stopped seeing the point. When she was young and carefree, her hair had been long. Perhaps growing it out would give her more of that personality back. If her image changed outwardly, perhaps the people of the town would be more willing to accept her inward change as well.

"It is," Regina confirmed. "I'm letting it grow."

"I like it."

"Thanks."

Emma pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I love you."

"I love you, too." She lifted her head and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "So much," she added.

"How's your back doing?" It wasn't that long ago that Regina bruised it.

"Better. I barely notice it unless something is touching it."

"Good." Emma pressed another kiss to Regina's shoulder.

A moment later, Regina's stomach growled.

"Someone must be hungry," Regina chuckled.

They were already in the kitchen, all Regina had to do was go over to their freshly re-stocked fridge. She pulled it open and Emma watched to see which strange concoction Regina wound up making this time.

This time it wound up being a peanut butter jelly honey sandwich. It looked pretty alright, aside from the fact that Emma thought she'd never mix jelly and honey together, though peanut butter mixed well with both. Separately, of course. But Emma had learned not to question pregnant Regina's choice of foods. It was just interesting to watch her put her strange ideas together. She supposed anything was better than the time when she'd felt the need to dip her chocolate chip cookies in ketchup. In no world could Emma see the appeal of that one.

"Interesting," Emma commented as she watched the sandwiches stack up on the plate. Four in total.

There was a definite curve to Regina's figure now, as the next day would also mark her eighth week of pregnancy. It wasn't entirely obvious on sight to those not in the know, but weight gain was obvious. If Regina was a heavy drinker, it could be credited to the beginnings of a pot belly. It was a little bit bigger than mere bloating would make it.

Emma grinned. "You're starting to show already."

"Yeah, have been for a few weeks now."

"No, I mean, it's a bit bigger now. It's starting to get obvious. It probably will be by next week. Soon even loose shirts won't be able to hide it."

"Yeah, then it'll be goodbye feet." She wondered just how big she would be by the time of the ultrasound, only a couple weeks plus one day away. All the better reason to find out who the Sheriff replacement would be before then. "I hope this won't be one of those stuck in bed pregnancies."

"Was that how it was with…you know?"

Regina bit into the first sandwich. "Yeah," she answered after swallowing. "Towards the end. Those last few weeks I'd only be allowed to move to use the bathroom."

Emma shrugged. "Well, maybe this time will be different. We'll just keep up regular appointments to make sure everything's smooth sailing so it doesn't get to that point."

Regina nodded. The benefits of modern technology would sure come in handy during the next seven or eight months more than ever before. Actually, they came in super handy in May, or else Regina wouldn't be pregnant at all. There were only two possible options for that outside of what they'd done, and they certainly weren't going to happen. There would be no magic use or sex with a man, and if the whole thing hadn't worked, another adoption would have to have been the solution. Regina was grateful all her pessimism about the process had been without any true cause. It was rare when Regina was glad she was wrong, but that scenario was definitely one of them.

"I wonder how many there are."

"Well, we'll find out in a couple weeks," Emma replied.

Mid-way through her first sandwich, Regina swayed on her feet. Emma was at her side in an instant.

"Woah there. Perhaps you should sit down." Emma pulled the nearby chair out from the table. "You really shouldn't be on your feet all the time." She remembered her own dizzy spells well. She didn't get the constant help that was preferred due to her lack of privileges where she'd spent most of her pregnancy. One time she'd outright collapsed, and she really didn't want to see that happen to Regina. She pushed her gently into the chair and slid her plate of sandwiches over so it was in front of her. "You probably need some water." She went over to the fridge to retrieve said water and put some ice in it so it would be really cold. The colder the better, it seemed, especially with dizziness. She placed the glass down next to her plate.

Regina picked it up, and when she put it down again, half of it was gone.

"Uh, geez. Feel better?"

Regina nodded. "Much."

"Good." Emma had known she needed water, and that right there was proof. She pressed a kiss to her temple. "I'm gonna go see what Henry's up to."

Regina nodded again and Emma left the room.


	30. Chapter 30

"Hey, baby." Emma pecked Regina's lips and slid a thin gray velvet jewellery box into her hands.

Regina looked down. "What's this?"

"It's your present."

Regina looked back up at her opening her mouth to protest but Emma cut her off,

"I told you I was getting one and I already had it by yesterday."

Regina looked down again and opened it. She gasped at what she saw. It was a ruby necklace held together by a string of diamonds. "Oh, Emma…" she murmured. "It's beautiful."

"I figured it was appropriate to get you something with your birthstone for your birthday."

Regina smiled. "Yes," she agreed. She was still staring, captivated by it.

Emma reached her hand down to carefully pick it up. "Let's put it on you." She walked behind her and swept her hair to one side so it was out of the way for the most part. She brought the necklace around her neck and clasped it together, then lifted Regina's hair a bit so it wasn't underneath, then let it fall back to where it had been. "There." She pressed a soft kiss to her shoulder. "Go look in a mirror, I bet it looks great on you."

Smile still intact, Regina made her way to the bathroom so she could see what it looked like on her. It did look great. The darkness of her hair right next to it certainly complemented it. Regina decided she wasn't even going to ask how much it had cost, even though she could tell all the stones were genuine. It wasn't tight, it made a nice loop, and if she wore a V-neck, it would have a perfect distance from her cleavage.

Half a minute later, Emma entered the bathroom as well, having had followed Regina upstairs. She smiled when she saw Regina's reflection. "I knew it would look good on you." She pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Like it?"

"Like it? That's an incredible understatement." Regina spun around to face her. "I love it."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Regina looped her arms around Emma's neck, drawing her close and kissing her.

"Happy birthday," Emma whispered when the kiss broke. Her forehead rested against Regina's.

"Thank you." She kept their faces close together, tightening her arms around her.

"I love you." Emma gave her another quick kiss.

"I love you, too." Regina closed her eyes, just focusing on the feeling of being close to her.

Emma's arms slid down to her waist, wrapping them snugly around her.

It was a peaceful moment and time seemed to generously freeze for them.

Regina reattached their lips again; the intimacy of the moment was certainly welcome.

Emma allowed her own eyes to close as well, meeting Regina's gentle intrusion half way. It was these moments she lived for, where nothing existed but the two of them, where nothing else mattered.

When the kiss broke, they were both slightly breathless.

"I really want to cuddle now," Regina stated.

Emma laughed softly. She'd never actually heard her request it before, it just happened on its own accord. "We can do that."

Regina moved her arms back down to her sides and took one of Emma's hands in hers, threading their fingers together. They walked the short distance to their bedroom and laid on the bed, careful that the necklace didn't get caught on anything. Regina rested her head on Emma's chest, allowing her eyes to close yet again. She could hear the steady sound of Emma's heartbeat.

Emma stroked a gentle hand through Regina's dark locks of hair. Her other was draped over her side, light pressure keeping her close. "You remind me of the cat now," Emma teased. "I'm sure you'll start purring any minute."

Regina chuckled. "Mm, I already would be if I were indeed a cat." She nuzzled her head against Emma's chest. "You're so comfortable."

Emma smiled. "There you go, being adorable again." She kissed the top of her head.

"You're warm and soft," Regina went on. "Not quite as bony as you used to me."

"Thanks to your three course meals."

"Only the best for the best. You were missing out on quite an array of food before you met me."

Emma chuckled. "Hello, Martha Stewart."

"I actually got that reference."

"I knew you would, I've seen the cook books."

Regina smiled. "Can't get anything past you."

Emma grinned. "Nope."

"You always know where my secrets are buried."

"Some aren't buried very deep. I was surprised you like cats, though."

"Why? I like animals."

"It's never been obvious."

"Horses are animals, or did you forget? You know all about the stables…"

"Yes, but horses make sense. They're fitting for princesses and queens. Cats are more like –" Emma prevented herself just in time from saying 'for evil villains'.

"Cats are more like what?"

"Cats are more like…for…crazy cat ladies."

Regina laughed. "If you say so."

Emma let out a slow sigh of relief. That was close.

"Did you never have any pets?"

"Never stayed in one place very long enough to get attached, remember? Some of my foster families had them, some didn't. Sometimes I had to help the ones that did take care of them, and sometimes I didn't. I mostly just waited for the time to come where I'd be kicked out again."

"You're better than them, Emma. You're better than all of them. They're all idiots for throwing you away." She moved her head so she could look at her.

"You tried to do that, too," Emma pointed out.

"And look where that's got us." Regina pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "Now we're family."

"We are, huh?"

"We are. And soon we will be legally recognized as such."

Emma smiled. "We're getting married."

"Yeah, we are." Regina smiled back. "And that's just the beginning."

Emma trailed her hand gently over the slight curve of Regina's stomach. "You're my second chance," she murmured.

"And you are mine." Regina covered Emma's hand with her own. "And these babies are going to have better lives than us, even better than Henry's."

"Better than Henry's?" Emma thought Henry had a pretty decent life, damn good when compared to those of his mothers.

"Yes. Better than Henry's because they'll have you, too."

Emma smiled, feeling her eyes become watery.

Regina cupped Emma's cheek with her free hand, using her thumb to gently stroke the skin there.

"From the very beginning," Emma murmured.

"Yes, from the very beginning." She brushed away the tear that fell.

"I love you so much." She thanked every god in existence that Regina came into her life.

"I love you, too. More than I ever believed I could." She pressed a soft kiss to her cheek, right where the tear had fallen. It was a gesture that said she not only accepted her weaknesses, but that she treasured them.

Emma sniffled, receiving the message loud and clear. "Damn you, Regina." She was becoming choked up and her vision was severely blurred.

Regina simply wrapped her arms around her, holding her and staying close. She pressed a kiss to her shoulder. "I know." Their love was continuously growing and just as the peak was reached, it shot up to a higher point, making it impossible for the mountain to be climbed downhill. The only direction left was up. Their love could never dwindle, and once in a while the beauty of it was simply too much to bear.

"You're perfect," Emma whispered. "Past, present, and future." Emma wouldn't change anything. If Regina hadn't done all of those horrible things in the past, she never would have become the person she had.

Regina let out a gasp that turned into a sob. Realization had hit. "We _do _have it."

Emma stroked a hand along her back. "Have what?"

"True love." The very thing she'd been afraid they didn't have was something they'd had all along. True love was unconditional. What Emma had just said, that she was perfect despite everything was all the proof she needed. Yes, Emma had said it before, but it had never sounded as truly unconditional as it had right that moment. Regina knew she meant it. Regina looked at her with new eyes, seeing everything that was familiar like it was the very first time. She took her face in both her hands and smiled so wide her cheeks hurt. "We do have it," she repeated, in a whisper this time.

"I knew that," Emma replied, looking up into her eyes. She was glad, however, that Regina had finally discovered it for herself.

Regina leaned forward, crashing their lips together in a deep and passionate kiss. There was no curse or spell to be broken, but she felt the magic surge within her all the same. Now that she truly knew, it rejoiced, cheering that it had finally been acknowledged. True love was, after all, the most powerful magic of all. The magic within her cleansed, purified, ensuring that it could never be used for evil again. It was a rare occurrence even in cases of true love, because true love rarely bound two magical beings together. When it did happen, it worked miracles. It wouldn't erase all the evil Regina had done, it wasn't so powerful as to change the past, but it wiped all the remaining blackness from her heart. Slowly, that small spot of normalcy had grown once Regina let Emma in, but Regina's hard had still been very dark. Now all darkness had been wiped clean, giving her a clean slate and a fresh start. It was something that would never happen for Rumpelstiltskin, as Belle was not magical. It was something that would never happen for Snow and Charming, as neither of them were magical. Regina felt the affects immediately, feeling lighter than she had in years. She gasped and the kiss broke.

"Oh my God."

"What?" Concern laced her voice.

"I feel so light."

"Lay down."

"No, not light headed. Just…light. I feel like I did before I even dabbled in magic. I…I think it healed me. My heart." She pressed a hand to her chest. "I don't think I can do anything bad again." To test the theory, she attempted to shove her hand into Emma's chest. Nothing happened but the feeling of flesh on flesh. "I can't take your heart," she confirmed. She looked straight into Emma's eyes. "You really are my second chance."


	31. Chapter 31

Regina was curious as to what she could actually do, magically, that is. She'd never really danced along the line of good magic. At first she was neutral but it hadn't taken long for it to become completely dark. Now whatever she had been able to do had either become an ability she no longer had or it was modified. For example, she could conjure up fireballs and energy balls but they wouldn't burn. They'd hit their target and just fizzle away, doing no damage.

"Give it a rest, Regina. You're not going to figure it all out in a couple days."

Regina sighed. "But I want to know!"

"Just take a break. In a couple days we've got ballots to start counting, remember?"

"Yeah, I know. And I want to know the totals by Monday, that's when I want to announce the finalists."

"You think we'll be able to get them all counted over one weekend?"

"Well if we put them in five separate piles that will make it a lot easier."

"Still, there's a thousand."

"I'm aware, I made them. And after they're all divided into their piles we can divide each of them by ten and make a tally mark for each set of ten for each person, and then we'll add up the tally marks and viola, we'll have the vote totals."

"You make it sound easy."

"It will be, dear."

"Even though we'll lose part of a day on Saturday, in case you've forgotten that's our date night."

"I'm well aware. We'll have about two and a half days then. Friday, part of Saturday, and Sunday. Minus sleeping hours."

"It's really weird when you get all mathy."

"That's not a word."

"I know! It's still weird. I guess I'm just surprised math exists in fairytale land."

Regina gave her a look.

"Er, Enchanted Forest," Emma corrected herself.

"In a land of magic and potions and spells…how do you suppose we managed to use the right amount of ingredients if we didn't know how to count?"

"I don't know, descriptive words? Pinch, handful, the length of a nail, etc."

"And how about marking years and birthdays?"

"…Sundial?"

Regina narrowed her eyes.

"Okay, no sundial then. Hey, I could've said by the amount of rings on fingers, though I suppose that only works on trees… I'll just shut up now."

Regina directed her glare to a nearby candle and was pleasantly surprised when it lit. "Finally!" She did a little victory dance. "Something I can actually do!"

Emma laughed but thought it wise not to comment. Instead, she brought up a new topic. "So, thirteen days until the ultrasound. You ready?"

"Mm…getting there. I'm still going to be nervous."

"Well, yeah, that's only to be expected. It's your first ultrasound."

"That's not all I'm nervous about. There won't be any more guessing as far as the number goes, it'll be concrete."

"Yes, but won't that make it that much easier for us to prepare?"

"I suppose. Speaking of preparing, we should get to work on the wedding before the second round of voting ends. We're halfway through July so we've only got a couple months left to go." Regina still wasn't sure why they'd been engaged over a year and barely made a dent as far as planning the wedding went. Perhaps it was just that life got in the way.

"So is it going to be a big thing or did you think of a way to avoid it?"

"I think it's going to have to be a big thing. There's not really an easy way to hide the mayor's wedding. I've tried thinking of alternatives, but none of them would work out very well. People are going to be nosy and find ways to barge in anyway, so we may as well just make it a public event. Everybody wins."

Emma sighed. "I'll go along with that if you promise me one thing."

"What's that?"

"We leave Storybrooke for the honeymoon. I just want to go away where there's no pressure to be anything other than what I am."

"I _suppose_I can find an acting mayor…" Though she had no idea who that would be. Those weren't usually used because the current mayor was taking a vacation, but no one would question it if they knew what was good for them. "Maybe it can be one of the finalists that doesn't get picked for Sheriff." Regina shrugged. "You could've mentioned that idea a little earlier, 'cause whoever I pick has to be trained." She did not like the idea of sitting down and training any of the five Sheriff candidates, but it would have to be done. "I'll mention it when I announce the finalists."

"Thank you." Emma took her hands and pulled her close, then wrapped her arms around her waist.

Regina started to settle against her when a wave of nausea crashed over her. "Hold that thought." She broke away from Emma's embrace and darted to the bathroom. There went breakfast. She couldn't wait for this part of the pregnancy to be over with. Not only was it absolutely disgusting, it burnt her throat when it happened. She coughed toward the end, trying to ease the ache. At least her hair didn't get in the way. When it was over, she flushed it away and rinsed her mouth out. At first Regina would brush her teeth after each time, but she learned that sometimes it happened multiple times a day so she started doing the shortcut of using a good dose of mouthwash. It would be ridiculous to continue her old pattern, as on occasion sometimes she lost her meals three or four times a day. Add the normal twice daily brushing teeth onto that, it would mean Regina was brushing her teeth five or six times a day on those days, which was hardly necessary. Teeth could only handle so much fluoride, after all.

She let out a sigh and leaned against the wall, closing her eyes against the light headedness that followed. She waited until she felt like she could walk without falling over before moving away and leaving the bathroom.

"Morning sickness again?"

"They really need to rename it. It's more like round the clock sickness." Regina sighed again, walking back into Emma's arms and resting her head against her shoulder.

"Just a month or so left," Emma replied as she stroked her hair. "Then it should be over. I don't think it carries into the second trimester very often."

"It better not. Three months will be quite enough of that for me." She closed her eyes again. "It makes no sense that it makes me eat so often only to throw it all back up later."

"Yeah, nature has a cruel sense of humor." Emma kissed the top of her head. "But in the end it will all be worth it," she promised.

"I know." Regina smiled, imagining their babies as toddlers running all around the house. She could already tell one was going to be a girl. They were still the size of a small fruit, but it was her mother's intuition kicking in. "I can't wait."

Emma ran her hands gently along her back. "We've still got over half a year, but we're two months closer."

Regina nodded against her shoulder. "I'm going to get one of those cheesy baby memory books to write down all the milestones. Or more, however many we have."

Emma chuckled. "I like that idea." She smiled. "A book of firsts and everything else."

"Mmhm. With lots of pictures."

"Yeah. Enough to embarrass them when they're older and think they're too cool for us."

"Future blackmail."

"Exactly."

"With plenty of duplicates."

"Hey, want to start an on the way scrapbook?" Emma asked.

"Hm…how many pictures is _that _going to take?"

"One a week? We can do it each time a new week is marked, starting with the ninth."

"…Alright. Every Tuesday, then?"

"Every Tuesday."

"Okay." Regina lifted her head from her shoulder and gave her a quick kiss. She smiled. "We have good ideas."

Emma laughed. "We do," she agreed. She pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You're right; we really should get to work for planning the wedding. "Hmm, let's see… Can it be outside?"

"Sure."

"Alright… So rings, dresses, flowers, food, cake, music, tux for Henry… Am I missing anything?"

"Invitations, photographer, caterer, rehearsal dinner, might as well throw in a bridal shower and bachelorette party, and then there's the license of course."

"Geez, that's a lot."

"Yes, it is. Which is why the sooner we start planning the better."

"So it should probably be mid or late October so we have time to get everything ready."

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea."

"This is going to be expensive, isn't it?"

"Sure will."

"How much are we willing to spend on this thing?"

"Hmm… I'll put a cap at $250,000."

Emma's eyes went wide. "That's a quarter of a million dollars!"

"Yes, it is."

"Do we even - ?"

"Yes."

"But…why?"

Regina raised an eyebrow. "Because we're worth it." She closed the distance between them and kissed her.

Emma returned the kiss. "Where do you hide all this money?"

"Where no one else can find it."

"I swear you're a mayor with the income of the President."

"Well there's only been one Mayor of Storybrooke for all these years, and that's me. I've been mayor since the early 1980s. Picked up the best ways to save money along the way."

"Please tell me it doesn't involve having bank accounts in the Cayman Islands."

"Nope."

"Switzerland?"

"No. Just here. Interest works in my favor."

"Well, at least you're not cheating."

"Not literally, anyway. I think I'm the only mayor that's been active that long anywhere."

Emma shrugged. "The Queen of England has been ruling from the beginning of time, it seems. She has to be in her eighties or nineties and she's been on the throne since she was in her twenties or thirties, I'm pretty sure."

"This world works in strange ways."

"Always has and always will."

Callisto made its appearance known by plopping down onto their feet.

"Hello there, kitty." Regina bent down to scoop it up into her arms.

Emma snorted at the unconscious reference Regina made.

"What?"

"Hello kitty? It's basically taking over the world. You know, that little white cat picture that's just about everywhere? It's like on top of the world when it comes to merchandise."

"Nope, not sure what you're talking about."

"How do you live here as long as you have and not understand the most popular of pop culture references?"

Regina shrugged. "They're not important so I don't pay attention."

"Well, that cat will be everywhere soon. You won't be able to miss it. It will be on everything."

"Well, that's not the case yet."

"Yet," Emma emphasized.

**AN: Please remember to vote, this round is almost over! (Don't just say it in a review, go to my profile and use the poll) There is currently a one vote tie between Whale and Charming that needs to be broken in order for there to be three candidates instead of four that move on.**


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